Fueling Organized Crime: The Mexican War on Drugs and Oil Thefts

Arbeitspapier

We show that the War on Drugs launched by the Mexican President Felipe Calderón in 2007 pushed drug cartels into large-scale oil thefts. Municipalities that the presidential candidate's party barely won at the local elections in 2007-2009 exhibit a larger increase in illegal oil taps over the following years, compared to municipalities in which the presidential candidate's party barely lost the elections. Challenger cartels in the drug market leapfrog incumbent drug cartels when entering the new illegal activity, analogous to what is typically observed in legal markets. Since challengers and incumbents specialize in different criminal sectors, the expansion of challengers does not increase violence in municipalities traversed by oil pipelines. At the same time, the municipalities traversed by a pipeline witness a decrease in schooling rates.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 9521

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law ; Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior: General
• Subject: organized crime ; War on Drugs ; oil thefts ; leapfrogging

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Battiston, Giacomo ; Daniele, Gianmarco ; Le Moglie, Marco ; Pinotti, Paolo
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/252038
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET