Does economic deprivation fuel terrorist recruitment? A large empirical literature has explored this question, but the findings remain contradictory and inconclusive. We argue that this is due to inconsistencies in the way deprivation has been defined and measured. This article identifies these deficiencies and provides a roadmap toward more precise measurement of deprivation and consequently toward a better understanding of its potential impact on the emergence of terrorism. More specifically, we propose a conceptual framework that distinguishes three different dimensions of relative deprivation: individual vs. collective, objective vs. subjective, and synchronic vs. diachronic. Combining them yields eight different mechanisms that could link economic status to terrorist radicalization. Drawing inspiration from fields such as conflict studies, social psychology, and political behavior, we outline some measurement approaches that could capture the mechanisms in a targeted way. The findings have implications for how researchers should collect data and design studies as well as for how policymakers should interpret the statistical results.

中文翻译：

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五十度匮乏：在恐怖主义研究中分解经济劣势的类型


经济匮乏是否助长了恐怖分子的招募？大量实证文献探讨了这个问题，但研究结果仍然相互矛盾且没有定论。我们认为，这是由于定义和衡量剥夺的方式不一致。本文指出了这些缺陷，并提供了更精确衡量剥夺的路线图，从而更好地理解其对恐怖主义出现的潜在影响。更具体地说，我们提出了一个概念框架，区分了相对剥夺的三个不同维度：个人与集体、客观与主观以及共时与历时。将它们结合起来会产生八种不同的机制，可以将经济状况与恐怖主义激进化联系起来。从冲突研究、社会心理学和政治行为等领域汲取灵感，我们概述了一些可以有针对性地捕捉机制的测量方法。这些发现对研究人员应该如何收集数据和设计研究以及政策制定者应该如何解释统计结果具有影响。