2022/02/04 by Anne Brockmeyer, Quy‐Toan Do, Clément Joubert +2 · 1 voice · 5 citations
Social Sciences · #Al qaeda #Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance #Economic growth #Economics #Geography #Islam #Law #Political Conflict and Governance #Political science #State (computer science) #Terrorism #Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence #Unemployment #Violent extremism
paper · open access · doi:10.1162/rest_a_01161
published in The Review of Economics and Statistics 105(5), 1092-1109 (The MIT Press)
openalex publication_date 2022/02/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Abstract Global terrorist organizations attract radicalized individuals across borders and constitute a threat for both sending and receiving countries. We use unique personnel records from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh) to show that unemployment in sending countries is associated with the number of transnational terrorist recruits from these countries. The relationship is spatially heterogeneous, which is most plausibly attributable to travel costs. We argue that poor labor market opportunities generally push more individuals to join terrorist organizations, but at the same time, limit their ability to do so when longer travel distances imply higher travel costs.