Terrorist risk and income revisited

Abstract

Using the five sub-indices of the World Markets Research Centre's Global Terrorism Index (GTI), this study finds that national income has a significant relationship with terrorist risk, even after accounting for the other terrorist risk determinants. This finding extends past research that has used the aggregated GTI data to explore the relationship between income and terrorist risk. Specifically, national income is found to be significantly correlated with a country's counter-terrorism abilities, or the ‘Prevention’ risk factor. It is argued in this study that wealthier countries have a greater capability to enhance counter-terrorism and security measures compared with low-income countries and thus the level of economic development should affect a country's terrorist risk. It is suggested that the use of the weighted, aggregate GTI data in past research negates the relationship between national income and terrorist risk, which is apparent at the individual risk factor, or sub-index level.