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Costs of Terrorism and the Benefits of Working Together (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Summary

Terrorism is, in most cases, essentially a political act. It is meant to inflict dramatic and deadly injury on civilians and to create an atmosphere of fear, generally for a political or ideological (whether secular or religious) purpose.

Source: United Nations, 2002

As September 11 showed, protecting economies against terrorism is imperative. A single terrorist incident could result in thousands of deaths, destroy equipment and infrastructure worth billions of dollars and have ongoing negative economic impacts over several years.

Terrorist acts cover threats or attacks against specific groups by any number of means. It includes the potential for terrorists to use weapons of mass destruction - nuclear, chemical, and biological - to disrupt economies and societies, for example by introducing pathogens into the food chain or by exploding a 'dirty' bomb. It also includes cyber warfare and attacks against energy and other infrastructure.

This paper concentrates on the overall costs of terrorist acts in general and the specific costs of terrorist acts involving transport, particularly through their impact on trade and the movement of people.