Where You Live Matters: Drug Trade-Related Violence and Discrimination in the Labor Market

Emiliano Tealde
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Emiliano Tealde: Universidad Católica del Uruguay

No 2025-40, Documentos CEDE from Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE

Abstract: This work studies how drug trade-related violence affects individuals’ employment prospects. Using an experimental design, I find that candidates residing in areas associated with drug trade-related violence face significant labor market discrimination. Willingness to hire decreases a 16 % in candidates from a ”narco” neighborhood. Education acts as a mitigating factor, and candidates from a narco neighborhood who finish secondary school do not face discrimination. The results are not driven by employers’ perceptions of the candidates’ quality. I find that discrimination is higher among more experienced employers and that employers who are more concerned about public safety are not more likely to discriminate, which does not support statistical discrimination as the mechanism driving the effect.

Keywords: Discrimination; Drug Trafficking; Violence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 J23 J71 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51
Date: 2025-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law and nep-lma
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Published in Documentos CEDE - Universidad de los Andes

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:col:000089:021811

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