The governance institutions of a drug trafficking organization

James Kostelnik () and David Skarbek ()

Public Choice, 2013, vol. 156, issue 1, 95-103

Abstract: How do drug trafficking organizations organize? Drug trafficking organizations continue to operate effectively despite incentives for members to defect, pressure from damaged communities, and government interdiction efforts. This paper identifies the problem of defection in this context and applies insights from the literatures on club goods and extralegal governance institutions to explain the puzzling organization and activities of one of Mexico’s most dangerous drug trafficking organizations, La Familia Michoacana. The group uses a reward and punishment scheme to prevent defection from members and to elicit cooperation from the community and government. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Keywords: Violence and fragile states; Club goods; Organized crime (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:156:y:2013:i:1:p:95-103

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DOI: 10.1007/s11127-012-0050-x

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