Education, Poverty, Political Violence and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection?

Abstract

The paper investigates whether there is a causal link between poverty or low education and participation in politically motivated violence and terrorist activities. After presenting a discussion of theoretical issues, we review evidence on the determinants of hate crimes. This literature finds that the occurrence of hate crimes is largely independent of economic conditions. Next we analyze data on support for attacks against Israeli targets from public opinion polls conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These polls indicate that support for violent attacks does not decrease among those with higher education and higher living standards. The core contribution of the paper is a statistical analysis of the determinants of participation in Hezbollah militant activities in Lebanon. The evidence we have assembled suggests that having a living standard above the poverty line or a secondary school or higher education is positively associated with participation in Hezbollah. We also find that Israeli Jewish settlers who attacked Palestinians in the West Bank in the early 1980s were overwhelmingly from high-paying occupations. The conclusion speculates on why economic conditions and education are largely unrelated to participation in, and support for, terrorism.

Religion, terrorism and public goods: Testing the club model

“…A cross sectional linear probability regression of a civil war onset indicator on GDP/capita and the estimated proportion of mountainous terrain yields a negative coefficient on GDP/capita and a positive coefficient on mountains. 17 Doubling GDP/ 14 Krueger and Maleckova (2003). 15 Wintrobe (2006) offers a similar conjecture in discussing the demand side for terror, that is, why leaders would ask for such sacrifices among their closest followers.…”

“…In the model poverty should breed terrorism as it lowers the outside options of club members. Yet Berrebi (2003) and Krueger and Maleckova (2003) find that leaders and suicide attackers tend to have about the same income levels as their neighbors, and higher educational levels. This may be due to selection, as pointed out by Becker and Posner (2005).…”

“…It is important to point out that economic development may be effective in weakening militias even if activists within a militia are not disproportionately poor, and support for militia activities is not disproportionately among the poor, findings reported by Krueger and Maleckova (2003). A club which is strengthened by its ability to provide local public goods may attract members for any number of reasons, and select leaders and combatants from among those members according to characteristics other than poverty.…”

The open society assesses its enemies: shocks, disasters and terrorist attacks

“…This paper focuses on the last two goals of terrorism, especially as far as there is an interaction between them. 3 We have adopted the definition in Krueger and Maleckova (2002). Since 1983, the U.S. State Department has used, for analytical purposes, the following definition: "Terrorism" involves premeditated and politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.…”

The Role of Foreign Aid in the War on Terrorism: Examples From Pakistan

“…With time and more rigorous research a different picture has emerged. Krueger and Maleckova's (2002) detailed and in-depth review of the evidence, on the other hand, provides little reason for optimism that a reduction in poverty or an increase in educational attainment, by themselves, -would meaningfully reduce international terrorism. Their main finding is that any connection between poverty, low educational attainment, and terrorism is indirect, complicated, and probably quite weak.…”