What Makes a Terrorist

In short, not the lack of education or poverty. Also, not really about religion. Krueger argued for a bit that the lack of civil liberties was a cause of terrorism.

From the Q&A:
Q: I think Indonesia presents an interesting case worth studying. When the Asian economic miracle was going full steam, Indonesia had a kind of Islam which would be called cultural Islam, rather like the situation in Turkey. You would be hard pressed to find fundamentalism in Indonesia before, say, 1994. But when the Asian economic miracle occurred, most of the wealthy left the country, the education system collapsed, and the madrasahs that teach extremist Islam moved in from Yemen. From 1995 onward, Indonesia experienced a rise in fundamentalism. This would support your argument that it is the content of education that is so important. I think Indonesia would be an ideal research vehicle for you because it provides “before” and “after” cases.

A: I appreciate the suggestion. In the second lecture I discuss the world more generally. I could have mentioned earlier that the Palestinians are particularly well educated, but that much of their education tends to be skewed toward religious studies (e.g., Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2002). This, I think, emphasizes that it is the content of education that is relevant.