The Impact of Terrorism on Social Capital: Evidence from the 2015 Charlie Hebdo Paris Shooting

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-22-2019

Publication Title

Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics

Volume

82

Issue

3

First page number:

526

Last page number:

548

Abstract

We examine the impact of terrorism on social capital by exploiting variation in the 2014 European Social Survey administration dates coupled with the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, France. Using the difference‐in‐differences estimator, we find that the attack had a positive, causal impact on the overall level of social capital among French respondents. Further, the effect seems to be driven by an increase in institutional and interpersonal trust, as well as by engagement in social networks. This rise in social capital peaks in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack but subsequently decays to pre‐attack levels within approximately one month.

Keywords

Terrorism attacks; Social capital; Causal impacts; Institutional trust; Social networks; Economic success

Disciplines

Economics | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Terrorism Studies

Language

English

UNLV article access

Search your library

Share

COinS