Here’s yet more evidence that a good economy is good news all around. In a new working paper, Efraim Benmelech, Claude Berrebi and Esteban F. Klor have analyzed data (abstract here) on Palestinian suicide terrorists between 2000 and 2006 and found that “[h]igh levels of unemployment enable terror organizations to recruit more educated, mature and experienced suicide terrorists who in turn attack more important Israeli targets.” Interestingly, “poverty and economic conditions are not correlated with the quantity of terror.”?[%comments]
Bad Economy = Deadlier Terrorists
and 
. You can also watch it on 
I agree that the language of an “experienced suicide bomber” is oxymoronic, but I find an even greater flaw. We often hear of rationality and that we as humans are not as rational as we would like to be perceived as. But, in the general context of studying terrorists and their behavior, I think it is foolish to even attempt classifying a terrorist’s decision based on utility theory and rationality.