Abstract

RAFFO LOPEZ, Leonardo  and  SEGURA, José Luis. The Ineffectiveness of Drug-Supply Repression Policies: An Alternative Explanation. Ens. Econ. [online]. 2018, vol.28, n.52, pp.165-201. ISSN 0121-117X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/ede.v28n52.71862.

The aim of the article is to present an alternative explanation for the ineffectiveness of drug-supply repression policies that focus on the functioning of drug-trafficking networks and on the increasing expected profits of traffickers. To this end, we solve and simulate the analytical model for irregular network structures proposed in Raffo (2015b), thus enabling a better understanding of the functioning of real drug trafficking and distribution networks. We show that a tougher anti-drug law enforcement policy can lead to a paradoxical increase in trafficker's aggregate expected profits, since the policy impacts the profits of individual traffickers in a heterogeneous way.

JEL: K42, D43, L13, C72, D85.

Keywords : drug trafficking; delinquent networks; illegal markets; game theory; social networks; law enforcement.

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