IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v67y2023i9p1675-1703.html

Organized Crime and Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence From Criminal Groups in Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Carolina Garriga
  • Brian J. Phillips

Abstract

How does organized crime affect foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries? Some research examines the effects of crime, such as homicide rates, on FDI. However, we know little about how organized crime in particular might affect such investment. This paper examines organized crime and FDI in Mexican states between 2000 and 2018. This case is important because Mexico is one of the top global recipients of FDI. At the same time, criminal violence has killed hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico in recent years, and scholars seek to understand the violence’s wider effects. We explain how organized crime competition, as opposed to crime generally, should shape investors’ decisions. Analyses using original data on criminal organization territory find that higher numbers of criminal groups are associated with lower levels of new FDI. Other measures of crime, such as homicide rates or crime rates, are not associated with foreign investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Carolina Garriga & Brian J. Phillips, 2023. "Organized Crime and Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence From Criminal Groups in Mexico," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 67(9), pages 1675-1703, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:67:y:2023:i:9:p:1675-1703
    DOI: 10.1177/00220027221145870
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00220027221145870
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00220027221145870?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Block, 2000. "Gang Activity and Overall Levels of Crime: A New Mapping Tool for Defining Areas of Gang Activity Using Police Records," Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 369-383, September.
    2. Caroline T Witte & Martijn J Burger & Elena I Ianchovichina & Enrico Pennings, 2017. "Dodging bullets: The heterogeneous effect of political violence on greenfield FDI," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(7), pages 862-892, September.
    3. Ashoka Mody & Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka, 2003. "The Role of Information in Driving FDI Flows: Host-Country Tranparency and Source Country Specialization," NBER Working Papers 9662, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Ramos, Miguel A. & Ashby, Nathan J., 2013. "Heterogeneous firm response to organized crime: Evidence from FDI in Mexico," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 176-194.
    5. Garriga, Ana Carolina & Phillips, Brian John, 2014. "Foreign Aid as a Signal to Investors: Predicting FDI in Post-Conflict Countries," MPRA Paper 88643, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Sánchez-Martín, Miguel Eduardo & de Arce, Rafael & Escribano, Gonzalo, 2014. "Do changes in the rules of the game affect FDI flows in Latin America? A look at the macroeconomic, institutional and regional integration determinants of FDI," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 279-299.
    7. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gyu Sang Shim, 2026. "Armed Conflict and the Location of Extractive Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 70(5), pages 896-922, May.
    2. Peter J. Buckley & Nigel Driffield & Jae-Yeon Kim, 2022. "The Role of Outward FDI in Creating Korean Global Factories," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 27-52, February.
    3. Leviticus Mensah & Murad Abdurahman Bein & Richard Arhinful, 2025. "The Impact of Capital Structure on Business Growth Under IFRS Adoption: Evidence From Firms Listed in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(2), pages 21582440251, May.
    4. Hidemi KIMURA & Yasuyuki TODO, 2007. "Is Foreign Aid a Vanguard of FDI? A Gravity-Equation Approach," Discussion papers 07007, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Xu, Kai & Hitt, Michael A. & Brock, David & Pisano, Vincenzo & Huang, Lulu S.R., 2021. "Country institutional environments and international strategy: A review and analysis of the research," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    6. Peter J Buckley & Liang Chen & L Jeremy Clegg & Hinrich Voss, 2018. "Risk propensity in the foreign direct investment location decision of emerging multinationals," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(2), pages 153-171, February.
    7. Tag, Mehmet Nasih & Degirmen, Suleyman, 2022. "Economic freedom and foreign direct investment: Are they related?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 737-752.
    8. Donnelly, Róisín & Manolova, Tatiana S., 2020. "Foreign location decisions through an institutional lens: A systematic review and future research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).
    9. Pooja Thakur-Wernz & Helena Barnard & Marianne Matthee, 2024. "Knightian uncertain violence and the challenge of FDI-assisted development: policy recommendations where civilian lives are at risk," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(3), pages 356-390, September.
    10. Daniel Ştefan Armeanu & Georgeta Vintilă & Ştefan Cristian Gherghina, 2017. "Empirical Study towards the Drivers of Sustainable Economic Growth in EU-28 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-22, December.
    11. Cho, Seo-young & Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2010. "Compliance for big brothers: An empirical analysis on the impact of the anti-trafficking protocol," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 118, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    12. Alfonso Mendoza-Velázquez & Luis Carlos Ortuño-Barba & Luis David Conde-Cortés, 2022. "Corporate governance and firm performance in hybrid model countries," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(1), pages 32-58, February.
    13. Hakkala, Katariina & Heyman, Fredrik & Sjöholm, Fredrik, 2007. "Cross-Border Acquisitions, Multinationals and Wage Elasticities," Working Paper Series 709, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    14. Christopher Dick-Sagoe & Ernest Ngeh Tingum & Peter Asare-Nuamah & Denis N. Yuni & Nicholas Baidoo, 2025. "Central transfers and incentives to collect local revenue among the Central Region of Ghana’s local government officials: analysing the flypaper effect," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    15. Kutuk, Yasin, 2022. "Inequality convergence: A world-systems theory approach," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 150-165.
    16. Manthos D. Delis & Sotirios Kokas & Steven Ongena, 2016. "Foreign Ownership and Market Power in Banking: Evidence from a World Sample," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(2-3), pages 449-483, March.
    17. Jaewon Lim & Daeyoung Kwon & Soo Jung Ha, 2025. "Revisiting the growth poles: regional disparity and population redistribution policy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 74(1), pages 1-27, March.
    18. Ouedraogo, Benoît & Ouedraogo, Idrissa & Sawadogo, Hamidou, 2025. "Effects of trade openness on income inequality in sub-Saharan Africa: direct effects and transmission channels," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    19. Sergio Destefanis & Matteo Fragetta & Giuseppe Mastromatteo & Nazzareno Ruggiero, 2020. "The Beveridge curve in the OECD before and after the great recession," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 411-436, September.
    20. Efobi, Uchenna & Asongu, Simplice & Okafor, Chinelo & Tchamyou, Vanessa & Tanankem, Belmondo, 2016. "Diaspora Remittance Inflow, Financial Development and the Industrialisation of Africa," MPRA Paper 76121, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:67:y:2023:i:9:p:1675-1703. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://pss.la.psu.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.