IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/globdv/v11y2020i1p34n1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Demand and Supply in the Cocaine Market: An Empirical Study

Author

Listed:
  • Bernal Humberto

    (Economics, Programa de Economía, Universidad Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca, Calle 28 No. 5B-02, Bogotá, Colombia)

Abstract

This research analyzes the cocaine market from an economic perspective. The consumption of the coca leaf is ancient, and cocaine has been consumed for over 100 years. Longitudinal data from producing countries is taken to estimate cocaine cost structure, and longitudinal data from regions around the world is taken to estimate demand curve. Data is annual and comes from United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime reports. A microeconomic model under imperfect competition is calibrated to estimate volumes and prices of cocaine under illegal market and legal market. Results show that cocaine production has internal economies of scale, and the demand curve satisfies law of demand. Moreover, the world demand for this narcotic segmented by regions is elastic and normal good as income increases. From this economic picture, it is necessary to regulate this market efficiently through price within a context of legality in production and consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernal Humberto, 2020. "Demand and Supply in the Cocaine Market: An Empirical Study," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-34, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:globdv:v:11:y:2020:i:1:p:34:n:1
    DOI: 10.1515/jgd-2018-0047
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jgd-2018-0047
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jgd-2018-0047?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Suren Basov & Mireille Jacobson & Jeffrey A. Miron, 2001. "Prohibition and the Market for Illegal Drugs," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 2(4), pages 133-157, October.
    2. Roberto Steiner, 1996. "Los ingresos de Colombia producto de la exportación de drogas ilícitas," Coyuntura Económica, Fedesarrollo, December.
    3. Norman V. Loayza & Naotaka Sugawara, 2012. "Would liberalization lead to epidemic cocaine consumption?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(14), pages 1405-1409, September.
    4. Benjamin Born & Jörg Breitung, 2016. "Testing for Serial Correlation in Fixed-Effects Panel Data Models," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(7), pages 1290-1316, August.
    5. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    6. Jeffrey A. Miron & Jeffrey Zwiebel, 1995. "The Economic Case against Drug Prohibition," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 175-192, Fall.
    7. Jeffrey A. Miron, 2003. "The Effect of Drug Prohibition on Drug Prices: Evidence from the Markets for Cocaine and Heroin," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(3), pages 522-530, August.
    8. Philip Keefer & Norman Loayza, 2010. "Innocent Bystanders : Developing Countries and the War on Drugs," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2420.
    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. Dave, Dhaval, 2008. "Illicit drug use among arrestees, prices and policy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 694-714, March.
    2. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Mesnard, Alice & Perrault, Tiffanie, 2023. "Weeding out the dealers? The economics of cannabis legalization," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 62-101.
    3. Ariaster B. Chimeli & Rodrigo R. Soares, 2017. "The Use of Violence in Illegal Markets: Evidence from Mahogany Trade in the Brazilian Amazon," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 30-57, October.
    4. Kenneth W. Clements, 2004. "Three facts about marijuana prices," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 48(2), pages 271-300, June.
    5. Niklas Jakobsson & Andreas Kotsadam, 2013. "The law and economics of international sex slavery: prostitution laws and trafficking for sexual exploitation," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 87-107, February.
    6. Kenneth W. Clements & Xueyan Zhao, 2005. "Economic Aspects of Marijuana," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 05-28, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    7. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Mesnard, Alice & Perrault, Tiffanie, 2019. "Defeating Crime? An Economic Analysis of Cannabis Legalization Policies," CEPR Discussion Papers 13814, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Carlos Casacuberta & Mariana Gerstenblüth & Patricia Triunfo, 2012. "Aportes del análisis económico al estudio de las drogas," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0112, Department of Economics - dECON.
    9. Kuziemko, Ilyana & Levitt, Steven D., 2004. "An empirical analysis of imprisoning drug offenders," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 2043-2066, August.
    10. Rose, Christiern, 2016. "The War on Drugs: An Analysis of the Effects of Supply Disruption on Prices and Purity," TSE Working Papers 16-643, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    11. Huber III Arthur & Newman Rebecca & LaFave Daniel, 2016. "Cannabis Control and Crime: Medicinal Use, Depenalization and the War on Drugs," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(4), pages 1-35, October.
    12. Dave, Dhaval, 2006. "The effects of cocaine and heroin price on drug-related emergency department visits," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 311-333, March.
    13. Michael Grossman, 2005. "Individual Behaviours and Substance Use: The Role of Price," Advances in Health Economics and Health Services Research, in: Substance Use: Individual Behaviour, Social Interactions, Markets and Politics, pages 15-39, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    14. Reza Oladi & John Gilbert, 2015. "International Narcotics Trade, Foreign Aid, And Enforcement," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(3), pages 1630-1646, July.
    15. Hillebrand, Eric & Schnabl, Gunther & Ulu, Yasemin, 2009. "Japanese foreign exchange intervention and the yen-to-dollar exchange rate: A simultaneous equations approach using realized volatility," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 490-505, July.
    16. 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.
    17. B. James Deaton & Getu Hailu & Xiaoye Zhou, 2014. "Poverty in Canada: Does Manufacturing Matter?," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 362-376, June.
    18. Lucia Rizzica, 2018. "When the Cat’s Away The Effects of Spousal Migration on Investments on Children," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 85-108.
    19. Wo[ss]mann, Ludger & West, Martin, 2006. "Class-size effects in school systems around the world: Evidence from between-grade variation in TIMSS," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 695-736, April.
    20. Lindo, Jason M. & Padilla-Romo, María, 2018. "Kingpin approaches to fighting crime and community violence: Evidence from Mexico's drug war," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 253-268.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    cocaine market; demand; monopoly; regulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly

    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:bpj:globdv:v:11:y:2020:i:1:p:34:n:1. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.