Imperfect law enforcement, informality, and organized crime

Arbeitspapier

How does imperfect law enforcement affect drug trafficking, predation on firms, informality, and aggregate production? To quantify it, a general equilibrium occupational model is developed in which there is room for drug trafficking, crime against businesses, and tax evasion in the presence of imperfect institutions. Detailed micro-level data on business victimization and cartels in Mexico are used to calibrate the model. It is found that the imperfect application of the law generates considerable losses in production derived from a misallocation of occupations and resources. Finally, using counterfactual simulations, the effects of policies that seek to improve the allocation of resources are calculated. With complete law enforcement in the illegal drug market, the workers in that sector would relocate to the productive sector, and aggregate production would increase. Without crimes against businesses, which would allow a reallocation of work, capital, and occupations to the formal sector, production would increase even more. However, the largest effects come from a decrease in informality.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Papers ; No. 2022-16

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development ; Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements ; Institutions and Growth ; Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence ; Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
• Subject: Misallocation ; aggregate distortions ; drug cartels ; crime ; formal and informal sectors

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Mascarúa, Lara Miguel A.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Banco de México
• (where): Ciudad de México
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/273672
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET