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Inequality and terrorism: a meta-regression analysis
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DOI：10.1007/s11127-026-01398-2.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Does income inequality cause terrorism? Existing theoretical arguments and policy assumptions suggest a positive relationship. But empirical evidence remains mixed and inconclusive. To investigate this puzzle, this paper conducts a comprehensive meta-analysis of 396 estimates from 31 studies. We address three key issues: the presence of publication bias, the publication-bias-corrected average effect of inequality on terrorism, and the determinants of the heterogeneous findings in the literature. Our analysis produces several surprising findings. Studies where inequality is the main independent variable suffer severe publication bias, and the average effect of inequality on terrorism is insignificant after controlling for this bias. By contrast, studies treating inequality as a control variable show minimal publication bias, and the effect of income inequality is significant in some models. These findings highlight a notable contradiction between theoretical expectations and empirical evidence in terrorism studies, suggesting the need to reassess both academic understanding and policy approaches to the inequality-terrorism nexus.
Keywords:
Income inequality
Terrorism
Meta-analysis
Publication bias
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