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Legal opacity, narcotics laws, and drug seizures

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  • Ninon Moreau-Kastler
  • Farid Toubal

Abstract

We show that legal opacity is a strong factor in drug trafficking. We develop a new framework that illustrates how legal opacity influences countries' seizure rates. Legal opacity reduces the detection of illicit flows and increases their volumes because it lowers trafficking costs. We use detailed information from financial systems evaluations, international standards cooperation mechanisms, and economic indicators to construct a new worldwide legal opacity index that covers each of the last two decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Ninon Moreau-Kastler & Farid Toubal, 2021. "Legal opacity, narcotics laws, and drug seizures," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-191, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2021-191
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Drug trafficking; Illicit financial flows; Law;
    All these keywords.

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