Drug-Related Violence and Forced Migration from Mexico to the United States

Eva Arceo-Gomez

No DTE 526, Working Papers from CIDE, División de Economía

Abstract: When President Felipe Calderón took office he declared a war on drug lords, thus initiating a war of attrition which has claimed more than 40,000 lives in the last 5 years. In this paper I document how this escalation of violence has led Mexicans living close to the northern border to migrate to the United States. Using data from the American Community Survey to estimate migration, and administrative death records to estimate murder rates, I present evidence that the United States southern states have seen the largest increases in Mexican migration from 2005 to 2010. I also show that these new migrants are college educated, which is in high contrast with the archetypical Mexican migrant in the United States. My analysis also shows that there is a correlation between business openings and murder rates in Mexico. I conclude that the war on drugs is making wealthy well-educated Mexicans leave the country, thus diminishing the available skilled labor force and investment needed for future economic development.

Keywords: Migration; Illegal drugs; Mexico (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 O15 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2012-05
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Drug-Related Violence and Forced Migration from Mexico to the United States (2012)
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