Destruction and distress: using a quasi-experiment to show the effects of the September 11 attacks on subjective well-being in the UK

Using a longitudinal household panel dataset in the United Kingdom, where most interviews are conducted in September each year, we are able to show that the attacks of September 11 resulted in lower levels of subjective well-being for those interviewed after that date in 2001 compared to those interviewed before it. This quasi-experiment provides one of the first examples of the impact of a terrorist attack in one country on well-being in another country. We value this effect through a cost of illness approach, which is estimated to be between £170 and £380 million.