organised crime

Evidence from the Northern Triangle and Mexico shows that an increase in the supply of weapons raises homicidal violence, which subsequently drives migration. Notably, this effect persists even when weapons are transferred through proper legal protoc...

Rising homicide rates in Mexico have left aggregate employment largely unchanged – but beneath this apparent stability, violence is reshaping who works and where, holding back the labour market and undermining productivity.

How does organised crime take over a city – and can mayors act before it does?

Destroying illicit crops at the source is meant to weaken criminal economies and create space for development. Evidence from Colombia's aerial glyphosate programme tells a different story: eradication triggered income shocks that pulled children out ...

Cocaine moves through the same global trade networks as legal goods, with violence rising where criminal groups fight over ports and other chokepoints.

In Mexico, children in safe areas suffer lasting academic harm when peers who fled local violence transfer to their schools – even though they were never directly exposed to that violence themselves. This hidden cost of violence is especially pronoun...

Although most Mexicans remained in their communities during the drug war, the associated violence generated large welfare losses that are mostly invisible in standard migration statistics.