Estimating the impact of Mexican drug cartels on crime

Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero and Alessandra Conte ()
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Alessandra Conte: Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Working Papers from Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona

Abstract: We estimate the impact of drug cartels and drug-related homicides on crime and security perceptions in Mexico. For this purpose, we combine surveys on crime victimization with indicators of where drug cartels operate with and without drug-related homicides. Using the difference-in-difference estimator, we find that people living in areas that experienced drug-related homicides are more likely to take extra precautions to guard their security, yet these areas also more likely to experience some crimes, particularly thefts and extortions. In contrast, these crimes and perceptions of unsafety do not change in areas where cartels operate without leading to drug-related homicides.

Keywords: Crime; difference-in-difference; instrumental variables; Mexico (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C26 K49 O17 R59 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2014-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uab:wprdea:wpdea1406

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