Terror attacks in the US and consequences for the world economy

On September 11, 2001, the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York and the attack on the Pentagon marked the worst terror incident in the history of the country. The impact that these attacks will have on international politics and the world economy are not year clearly foreseeable. In the following three articles, the Ifo Institute attempts to contribute an initial assessment of the consequences. The first contribution estimates the costs to compensate the material damage and output losses caused by the terror attacks. Then, by a comparison with occurrences during the Gulf War in 1990/91, an attempt is made to foresee the reaction of important markets and economic policy. The third contribution examines the geo-political importance of Afghanistan for the control of strategic raw materials in Central Asia.