Economic effects of anti-terrorism security measures

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Economic effects of anti-terrorism security measures

Security measures aiming to manage the risk of urban terrorism impose economic effects on society, the so-called economic effects of anti-terrorism measures. In essence, they can be classified as the costs of terrorism since they result from the actions of households, private agents and public agents in an attempt to prevent a terror event to occur, or at least to mitigate the effects of such an event.

Description

Estimation of the economic impact of counter-terrorism measures includes accounting for direct (primary) and indirect (secondary) effects, including both the costs and the benefits. Security measures, for example, make urban objects more resilient against terror attacks, but will also alter behaviour of economic agents (see the clickable map below). Moreover, security measure aiming to mitigate the indirect economic impact will create positive spillover effects for the local economy, since the impact of an future terror event will be less unpredictable. Finally, also the actual impact on terrorist behaviour should be taken into account in order to measure the effectiveness of the chosen security measures.

Terror eventPrimary economic impact of terrorismSecondary economic impactTotal economic impactEconomic effects of security measuresEconomic effects of security measuresEconomic impact counter terrorism.jpg.png
About this image

There is not much literature available on the economic impact of counter-terrorism measures and little definite conclusions can be drawn. Still, it is possible to illustrate that the economic impact of security measures vary greatly, depending on the type of measures and the way they are implemented (and in which context).

Costs of security

Direct (primary) costs of security

Indirect (secondary) costs of security

Benefits of security

Direct (primary) benefits of security

The inflicted economic damage of a terror event is the start of an estimation of the benefits of security measures since they constitute the direct benefits of the mitigation measures[1]. Examples of direct impacts of terror events are:

  • loss of life and injuries
  • property damage
  • business interruption
  • Damage to iconic objects[2]

Indirect (secondary) benefits of security

Related subjects

Footnotes and references

  1. See: Rose, A. and S. Chatterjee (2011). Benefits and Costs of Counter-Terrorism Security Measures in urban Areas, p.7.
  2. Ibid.

MAP

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