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Why are Mexican politicians being assassinated?: The role of oil theft and narcocracy and the electoral consequences of organized crime

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  • Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero
  • Nayely Iturbe

Abstract

When does organized crime resort to assassinating politicians? In narcocracies, criminal groups co-opt political elites through bribery in exchange for protection to traffic illegal drugs. When criminal groups compete, they may also resort to political violence to influence which candidate wins local elections in strategic areas and retaliate when state action threatens their survival.

Suggested Citation

  • Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero & Nayely Iturbe, 2023. "Why are Mexican politicians being assassinated?: The role of oil theft and narcocracy and the electoral consequences of organized crime," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2023-7, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2023-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Trejo, Guillermo & Ley, Sandra, 2021. "High-Profile Criminal Violence: Why Drug Cartels Murder Government Officials and Party Candidates in Mexico," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(1), pages 203-229, January.
    2. Paul Collier & Pedro Vicente, 2012. "Violence, bribery, and fraud: the political economy of elections in Sub-Saharan Africa," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 117-147, October.
    3. Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero & Mónica Oviedo, 2018. "The good, the bad and the ugly: the socioeconomic impact of drug cartels and their violence," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(6), pages 1315-1338.
    4. John Mullahy, 1997. "Instrumental-Variable Estimation Of Count Data Models: Applications To Models Of Cigarette Smoking Behavior," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(4), pages 586-593, November.
    5. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 1999. "Distribution-free estimation of some nonlinear panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 77-97, May.
    6. Alberto Alesina & Salvatore Piccolo & Paolo Pinotti, 2019. "Organized Crime, Violence, and Politics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(2), pages 457-499.
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