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On the surface this explanation doesn't make sense. Is there a correlation between extremists and countries with high income inequality? If so, provide some evi

by bko 11y ago

On the surface this explanation doesn't make sense. Is there a correlation between extremists and countries with high income inequality? If so, provide some evidence apart from cherry picking countries which happen to have high inequality and other problems. Why aren't free democratic regimes which also have high inequality equally plagued by these problems? Also, energy prices have fallen dramatically, affecting the coffers of many middle east governments. I don't know why he doesn't address this. Maybe he addresses these issues in his actual research but it is missing from every piece trying to link inequality to all societies ills.

pizza 11y ago
> "Members of Hezbollah's militant wing who were killed in action in the 1980s and early 1990s were at least as likely to come from economically advantaged families and have a relatively high level of education as they were to come from impoverished families without educational opportunities." > "Instead of viewing terrorism as a direct response to low market opportunities or ignorance, we suggest it is more accurately viewed as a response to political conditions and long-standing feelings (either perceived or real) of indignity and frustration that have little to do with economics." quoted in http://www.nber.org/digest/sep02/w9074.html http://www.nber.org/digest/sep02/w9074.html
ramason 11y ago
He is not positing a general theory of income inequality and extremism merely offering a hypothesis for recent extremism in the middle east. Saying "I think X is the cause of Y in country Z" is not the same thing as saying X is always the cause of Y in all countries all the time.
- bko 11y ago
  If you can make causes conditional to one particular location, how is that a good explanation? Are extremists more likely to be the poorest of society? From what I read, this is not the case.
  - ramason 11y ago
    It happens all the time. Causes lead to different outcomes in different environments. In biology for example poor diets lead to different diseases in different parts of the world. Extremists are more likely to be poor. Some instigators may be well-off people doing it for whatever purposes, but your rank and file, your average suicide bomber is more likely to be idle, unemployed with nothing better to do

by bko 11y ago

pizza 11y ago

> "Members of Hezbollah's militant wing who were killed in action in the 1980s and early 1990s were at least as likely to come from economically advantaged families and have a relatively high level of education as they were to come from impoverished families without educational opportunities." > "Instead of viewing terrorism as a direct response to low market opportunities or ignorance, we suggest it is more accurately viewed as a response to political conditions and long-standing feelings (either perceived or real) of indignity and frustration that have little to do with economics." quoted in http://www.nber.org/digest/sep02/w9074.html http://www.nber.org/digest/sep02/w9074.html

ramason 11y ago

He is not positing a general theory of income inequality and extremism merely offering a hypothesis for recent extremism in the middle east. Saying "I think X is the cause of Y in country Z" is not the same thing as saying X is always the cause of Y in all countries all the time.

bko 11y ago
If you can make causes conditional to one particular location, how is that a good explanation? Are extremists more likely to be the poorest of society? From what I read, this is not the case.
- ramason 11y ago
  It happens all the time. Causes lead to different outcomes in different environments. In biology for example poor diets lead to different diseases in different parts of the world. Extremists are more likely to be poor. Some instigators may be well-off people doing it for whatever purposes, but your rank and file, your average suicide bomber is more likely to be idle, unemployed with nothing better to do