Attack Assignments in Terror Organizations and The Productivity of Suicide Bombers

This paper studies the relation between human capital of suicide bombers and outcomes of their suicide attacks. We argue that human capital is an important factor in the production of terrorism, and that if terrorists behave rationally we should observe that more able suicide bombers are assigned to more important targets. We use a unique data set detailing the biographies of Palestinian suicide bombers, the targets they attack, and the number of people that they kill and injure to validate the theoretical predictions and estimate the returns to human capital in suicide bombing. Our empirical analysis suggests that older and more educated suicide bombers are being assigned by their terror organization to more important targets. We find that more educated and older suicide bombers are less likely to fail in their mission, and are more likely to cause increased casualties when they attack.

Do Poor Economic Conditions Affect Terrorism?

While the existing empirical literature shows that poverty and economic conditions are not correlated with the quantity of terror, theory predicts that poverty and poor economic conditions may affect the quality of terror. Poor economic conditions may lead more able individuals to participate in terror attacks, allowing terror organizations to send betterqualified terrorists to more complex, high-impact terror missions. Using data on Palestinian suicideterrorists, we provide evidence of the correlation between economic conditions, the characteristics of suicide terrorists, and the targets they attack.

Does Harboring Terrorists Have Economic Costs?

The literature on conflict and terrorism has paid little attention to the economic costs of terrorism for the perpetrators of terror attacks. Our research fills that gap by examining the economic costs of harboring suicide terror attacks. We combine data on Palestinian suicide terrorists with data from the Palestinian Labor Force Survey, to identify and quantify the impact of a successful attack on unemployment and wages. We find robust evidence that terror attacks have important economic costs. They cause a significant increase in unemployment and a significant decrease in wages and on the number of Palestinians working in Israel. Importantly, these effects are persistent and last for at least six months after the attack.

Does Harboring Terrorists Have Economic Costs?

The literature on conflict and terrorism has paid little attention to the economic costs of terrorism for the perpetrators of terror attacks. Our research fills that gap by examining the economic costs of harboring suicide terror attacks. We combine data on Palestinian suicide terrorists with data from the Palestinian Labor Force Survey, to identify and quantify the impact of a successful attack on unemployment and wages. We find robust evidence that terror attacks have important economic costs. They cause a significant increase in unemployment and a significant decrease in wages and on the number of Palestinians working in Israel. Importantly, these effects are persistent and last for at least six months after the attack

Do Poor Economic Conditions Affect Terrorism?

While the existing empirical literature shows that poverty and economic conditions are not correlated with the quantity of terror, theory predicts that poverty and poor economic conditions may affect the quality of terror. Poor economic conditions may lead more able individuals to participate in terror attacks, allowing terror organizations to send betterqualified terrorists to more complex, high-impact terror missions. Using data on Palestinian suicideterrorists, we provide evidence of the correlation between economic conditions, the characteristics of suicide terrorists, and the targets they attack

Counter-Suicide-Terrorism: Evidence from House Demolitions

This paper examines whether house demolitions are an effective counterterrorism tactic against suicide terrorism. We link original longitudinal micro-level data on houses demolished by the Israeli Defense Forces with data on the universe of suicide attacks against Israeli targets. By exploiting spatial and time variation in house demolitions and suicide terror attacks during the second Palestinian uprising, we show that punitive house demolitions (those targeting Palestinian suicide terrorists and terror operatives) cause an immediate, significant decrease in the number of suicide attacks. The effect dissipates over time and by geographic distance. In contrast, we observe that precautionary house demolitions (demolitions justified by the location of the house but not related to the identity or any action of the house’s owner) cause a significant increase in the number of suicide terror attacks. The results are consistent with the view that selective violence is an effective tool to combat terrorist groups, whereas indiscriminate violence backfires.

The Economic Cost of Harboring Terrorism

The literature on conflict and terrorism has paid little attention to the economic costs of terrorism for the perpetrators. This paper aims to fill that gap by examining the economic costs of committing suicide terror attacks. Using data covering the universe of Palestinian suicide terrorists during the second Palestinian uprising, combined with data from the Palestinian Labor Force Survey, we identify and quantify the impact of a successful attack on unemployment and wages. We find robust evidence that terror attacks have important economic costs. The results suggest that a successful attack causes an increase of 5.3 percent in unemployment, increases the likelihood that the district’s average wages fall in the quarter following an attack by more than 20 percent, and reduces the number of Palestinians working in Israel by 6.7 percent relative to its mean. Importantly, these effects are persistent and last for at least six months after the attack.

Economic Conditions and the Quality of Suicide Terrorism

We analyze the link between economic conditions and the quality of suicide terrorism. While the existing empirical literature shows that poverty and economic conditions are not correlated with the quantity of terror, theory predicts that poverty and poor economic conditions may affect the quality of terror. Poor economic conditions may lead more able, better-educated individuals to participate in terror attacks, allowing terror organizations to send better-qualified terrorists to more complex, higher-impact, terror missions. Using the universe of Palestinian suicide terrorists against Israeli targets between the years 2000 and 2006 we provide evidence on the correlation between economic conditions, the characteristics of suicide terrorists and the targets they attack. High levels of unemployment enable terror organizations to recruit more educated, mature and experienced suicide terrorists who in turn attack more important Israeli targets.

The ecology of sexual dimorphism in size and shape of the freshwater blenny Salaria fluviatilis.

Sexual selection is considered the major cause of sexual dimorphism, but recent observations suggest that natural selection may play a more important role in the evolution of sex differentiation than previously recognized. Therefore, studying the trade-offs between natural selection and sexual selection is crucial to a better understanding of the ecology underlying the evolution of sexual dimorphism. The freshwater blenny Salaria fluviatilis, a fish inhabiting lakes and rivers around the Mediterranean Sea, displays strong sexual dimorphism in size, shape, and behavior (i.e., larger body and head size for males and higher swimming requirements for females during the reproductive period). We tested for differences in sexual dimorphism in size and shape between the populations from lake and river habitats with the goal of identifying the trade-offs between natural and sexual selection that underlie variations in sexual dimorphism in this species. Our results show i) differences in sexual size dimorphism (SSizeD) in accordance to Rensch's rule (i.e., larger individuals in rivers associated with higher SSizeD), and ii) a decrease in shape differentiation between males and females in lake populations. Together, this suggests that the different environmental conditions between lake and river habitats (e.g., resource limitations, predation pressure, water velocity) affect the relative importance of sexual selection in the display of sexual dimorphism within the species. This study highlights the importance of considering the environmental conditions to which populations are exposed to better understand the ecology underlying the evolution of sexual dimorphism