How does primary, secondary and tertiary education affect global terrorism? Fresh evidence with international panel data

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to assess the effects of different levels of education, namely, primary, secondary and tertiary, on global terrorism, measured by incidence of global terrorism.Design/methodology/approachBased on annual panel data covering 120 countries from 1990 to 2017, zero-inflated negative binomial regression (NBR) model is applied to estimate relationship between education and terrorism.FindingsThe findings reveal that higher attainment of education at primary and secondary level lowers terrorism worldwide. The findings strongly hold across the most affected regions of the world including Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Drawing a comparison between the OECD and non-OECD countries, the results are substantially supported throughout.Research limitations/implicationsThis study highlights the significance of education, at least up to secondary level, as an effective measure to reduce the extent of terrorist activities worldwide. Apart from this, more focus on education is recommended across the most affected regions (Middle East and North Africa, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa), specifically and the world, generally. Furthermore, as this study focuses at macro level, the future research may focus on factors enforcing individuals to resort to terrorism at individual and group level.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies, this study contributes to existing literature through investigating the impact of terrorism at different levels of education.