The effect of migration on terror

Made at home or imported from abroad?

verfasst von

Axel Dreher, Martin Gassebner, Paul Schaudt

Abstract

We analyze how a country's immigrant population—defined as the stock of people born abroad—affects the probability of a terrorist attack in the host country. Using data for 20 OECD host countries and 183 countries of origin over the 1980–2010 period our OLS and 2SLS regressions show that the probability that immigrants from a specific country of origin conduct a terrorist attack in their host country increases with a larger number of foreigners from such countries living there. However, this scale effect does not differ from the effect domestic populations have on domestic terror. We find scarce evidence that terror is systematically imported from countries with large Muslim populations or countries where terror networks prevail. Policies that exclude foreigners already living in a country increase rather than reduce the risk that foreign populations turn violent, and so do terrorist attacks against foreigners in their host country. Highly skilled migrants are associated with a significantly lower risk of terror compared with low skilled ones, while there is no significant difference between foreign-born men and women.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Makroökonomik

Externe Organisation(en)

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Centre for Economic Policy Research, London
Universitat St. Gallen

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Canadian Journal of Economics

Band

53

Seiten

1703-1744

Anzahl der Seiten

42

ISSN

0008-4085

Publikationsdatum

07.12.2020

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Volkswirtschaftslehre und Ökonometrie

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 16 – Frieden, Gerechtigkeit und starke Institutionen

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1111/caje.12469 (Zugang: Offen)