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Immigrants, legal status, and illegal trade

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  • McCully, Brett A.

Abstract

Nearly $2 trillion of illegally trafficked goods flow across international borders every year, generating violence and other social costs along the way. Due to the absence of legal contracts and the challenge of finding trading partners in an illegal market, traffickers may rely on co-ethnic networks to facilitate trade. In this paper, I use novel microdata on the universe of large illegal drug confiscations in Spain to provide the first causal estimates of how immigrants and immigration policy affect the pattern and scale of illegal drug trafficking. I find that immigrants increase both illegal drugs imported from and exported to their origin country, with irregular immigrants raising illegal drug imports. Doubling the number of immigrants from an origin country raises the likelihood of illegal drug imports from that country by 8 percentage points. I find suggestive evidence that granting legal status to immigrants reduces illegal drug imports.

Suggested Citation

  • McCully, Brett A., 2024. "Immigrants, legal status, and illegal trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:152:y:2024:i:c:s0022199624001430
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2024.104016
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    1. Ismael Gálvez-Iniesta & José L. Groizard, 2021. "Undocumented Migration and Electoral Support: Evidence From Spain," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(4), pages 196-209.
    2. Jakub Lonsky & Isabel Ruiz & Carlos Vargas-Silva, 2022. "Trade Networks, Heroin Markets, and the Labor Market Outcomes of Vietnam Veterans," Working Papers 202203, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    3. Lonsky, Jakub & Ruiz, Isabel & Vargas-Silva, Carlos, 2022. "Trade networks, heroin markets, and the labor market outcomes of Vietnam veterans," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Gorrín, Jesús & Morales-Arilla, José & Ricca, Bernardo, 2023. "Export side effects of wars on organized crime: The case of Mexico," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration policy; Social networks; Drug trafficking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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