Seminar featuring Dr. Todd Sandler, the Vibhooti Shukla Professor of Economics and Political Economy at the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, co-sponsored by the School of Economics and the Sam Nunn School Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy (CISTP). 

Dr. Sandler’s Paper:  Reevaluating terrorism and economic growth:  dynamic panel analysis and cross-sectional dependence

Contrary to the extant literature, this paper shows that the impact of terrorism on economic growth is insignificant in five regional samples.  These results follow when Nickell bias and cross-sectional dependence are taken into account.  Previous studies have not properly adjusted for these biases.  Our provocative findings are robust to alternative measures of terrorism (i.e., domestic, transnational, and total) and to alternative specifications of terrorism (e.g., level, first differenced, and attacks per capita).  These findings are also robust to the inclusion of investment and population growth.  Moreover, we find that the various forms of terrorism do not affect consumption, investment, and government expenditures.

Dr. Todd Sandler researches international political economy, defense, environmental issues, international health concerns, terrorism, and public economics. He received his PhD from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1971. He teaches Honors: Introduction to Game Theory, The Political Economy of Terrorism, Public Finance, and Graduate Public Economics.

Dr. Sandler's research has appeared in leading journals in economics and political science, including the American Political Science Review, the American Economic Review, American Journal of Political Science, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Law and Economics. He has also authored or co-authored twenty-one books.

He serves on numerous editorial boards, including American Journal of Political Science, International Studies Quarterly, Bulletin of Economic Research, Defence and Peace Economics, and Fiscal Studies.

Dr. Sandler has served as consultant for the United Nations Development Program, the Overseas Development Council, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Inter-American Development Bank, International Task Force for Global Public Goods, and the World Bank.