NCJ Number
230297
Journal
Journal of Strategic Security Volume: 2 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2009 Pages: 33-42
Date Published
September 2009
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The article discusses the results of the Copenhagen Consensus Center's 2008 cost-benefit analysis of transnational terrorism.
Abstract
Based on the results of their analyses, the authors of the Copenhagen study believe that there is no permanent solution to the problem of transnational terrorism because for terrorists, it is a very cost effective tactic. On average, lives saved and injuries avoided is very small in comparison to the accelerated rate at which resources are consumed in combating terrorism. The goal study was to "evaluate the human costs and economic consequences of terrorism in conjunction with government expenditures on anti-terrorism efforts." The study's two objectives were to quantify 1) the benefits of lives saved and injuries avoided, and 2) the economic losses averted compared to the budgeted costs associated with homeland security. The study examined only terrorism that crossed international borders and did not include domestic insurgencies or resistance to foreign occupation. The study's authors used benefit cost ratios to evaluate three key variables important in determining benefits and costs: fatalities/injuries sustained in terrorist attacks; gross domestic product losses from disruption of economic activity; and security costs to governments in countering terrorist attacks. Based on the results of the Copenhagen study, this article found that the use of benefit cost ratios should not be the only method employed in determining budget priorities. Additional economic tools to be employed in evaluating the use of limited resources include the use of cost effectiveness criteria and simulation models. References