An April 26 Wall Street Journal story on costs associated with terrorism––with a particular focus on the bombings in Boston–– quoted CMC’s Brock Blomberg, the Peter K. Barker ’70 Professor of Economics, George R. Roberts Fellow, and dean of the Robert Day School.
Blomberg was among the economists weighing in on the topic: “How much will the attacks harm the economies of Boston and the United States?” Property damage, deaths, and injuries were significantly less than the 9/11 attacks in 2001, but still managed to shut down most of Boston for the majority of the day.
The writer of the WSJ story pointed out that “economists studying terrorism’s impact generally try to separate the direct costs of attacks from the costs of responses,“ including the cost of war or other military action.
Blomberg was quoted as saying it’s best to exclude war costs when assessing the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “Otherwise it turns into a bit of a political exercise.”