Beyond the headlines: the intangible costs of terrorism

Abstract

Do terrorist attacks affect life satisfaction and mental health? To explore this question, we analyse data on all casualty-causing terrorist incidents in Great Britain from 1992 to 2020, and combine this information with individual-level data from the British Household Panel Survey and the UK Household Longitudinal Study over the same period. To get as close as possible to a causal interpretation, we exploit variation within individuals, net of potential attack-specific and aggregate temporal factors, and report an array of different specifications and robustness tests. Our analysis reveals that geographic proximity to terrorist attacks decreases life satisfaction, particularly when the incidents occurred within the month before the interview. We also find that individuals with pre-existing mental vulnerabilities exhibit higher distress levels following a recent terrorism shock.