Rather than street crime, I argue that a better analogy is to voting. Having a high opportunity cost of time–resulting, say, from a high-paying job and a good education–should discourage people from voting, yet it is precisely those with a high opportunity cost of time who tend to vote. Why? Because they care about influencing the outcome and consider themselves sufficiently well informed to want to express their opinions. Terrorists also care about influencing political outcomes. Instead of asking who has a low salary and few opportunities, to understand what makes a terrorist we should ask: Who holds strong political views and is confident enough to try to impose their extremist vision by violent means? Most terrorists are not so desperately poor that they have nothing to live for. Instead they are people who care so deeply and fervently about a cause that they are willing to die for it. Alan B. Krueger
About This Quote

Often as people we gain something from the things we do. However we then often end up paying a high cost for that gain. If we had to choose between spending six months working hard and gaining a high income but then having to work long hours and having less time for ourselves, we would probably pick the six months, and be right to. However, most of us don't have to make this choice; we can choose to do what we want and work hard but not pay such a high price.

Terrorists are different; they board the train and stay on it until it crashes. They make the choice. Rather than following their dreams they follow theirs and kill many others in the process.

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