Pains, Guns and Moves: The Effect of the US Opioid Epidemic on Mexican Migration

Gianmarco Daniele, Marco Le Moglie and Federico Masera ()

No 20141, BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers from BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy

Abstract: The opioid epidemic and migration along the US–Mexico border are two of the most-debated policy issues in recent US politics. We show how these two topics are interlinked: the US opioid epidemic generated large Mexican migration flows. We exploit the fact that in 2010, a series of reforms to the US health care system resulted in a shift in demand from legal opiates to heroin. This demand shock had considerable effects on Mexico, the main supplier of heroin consumed in the US. Violence and conflicts increased in Mexican municipalities suitable for opium production, as they became highly valuable to drug cartels. People migrated out of these municipalities to escape this violence, mostly to areas close to the US border and into the US. The rise in US demand for heroin increased internal migration by an estimated 90,000 individuals and migration across the border at least by 12,000.

Keywords: opioid crisis; migration; violence; organized crime; Mexico (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Journal Article: Pains, guns and moves: The effect of the U.S. opioid epidemic on Mexican migration (2023)
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