The Origins of Terrorism - Cross-Country Estimates on Socio-Economic Determinants of Terrorism Volume 3 Jena Economic Research Papers 2009-02-01 2009 2007 2009-009 terror attacks openness discrete choice analysis institutions To expand our knowledge about an appropriate anti-terror strategy, it is indispensable to assess the underlying causes of terror. We examine social and economic conditions in the country of origin of terrorist attacks, claiming that low opportunity costs of terror, e.g. approximated as slow growth and poor institutions raise the propensity of terror and the willingness in the population to support terror. Using a mixed effects Poisson regression model, we are able to show that unfortunate socio-economic conditions in a country are suitable to reduce the opportunity cost for potential terrorists and increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks originating from a specific country. Interestingly, this effect is relevant after a certain level of development has been reached. We therefore distinguish between the OECD, Europe and Islamic countries. jportal_jpjournal_00000016 2009-02-02T15:20:45.179Z 2010-12-17T11:53:56.467Z