Socioeconomic Determinants of Terrorism

Abstract

The term “terrorism” is notoriously difficult to define, but terrorism has become a global concern over the last two decades. The findings of prior research on the social, political, and economic determinants of terrorism are mixed and inconclusive. Accordingly, this study investigates the relationship between socioeconomic indicators and terrorism in Tunisia for the period 1979–2015. The error correction model has been used to determine the stability of any long-term relationship. Using autoregressive distributed lag bound testing, the findings reveal that the unemployment rate, political instability, the informal sector and higher school enrollment rates positively and significantly affect terrorism. However, gross domestic product per capita and foreign direct investment have a negative and significant impact on terrorism. Interestingly, the poverty rate has no relationship to terrorism. Policy implications and future research are also discussed.