Illegal Markets and the Economics of Organized Crime

Description

This book showcases recent advances in the theoretical and empirical understanding of the economic aspects of organised crime and illegal markets. It provides new insights into defining and quantifying the influence of organised crime by drawing on innovative approaches to studying criminal networks and organisations such as the Hells Angels. The book includes analysis of the structure of illegal drug markets from international leaders in the field. Finally the text includes empirical case studies of the diverse markets where organised crime is currently active including the illegal market for crystal methamphetamine in Australia, tiger products in China and the falcon and fur trades in Russia.

This book was based on a special issue of Global Crime.

Contents

1. Introduction: Illegal markets and the economics of organized crime Martin Bouchard and Chris Wilkins 2. What is a criminal organization and why does the law care? Philip A. Curry and Steeve Mongrain 3. The size and influence of a criminal organization: a criminal achievement perspective Pierre Tremblay, Martin Bouchard and Sevrine Petit 4. Understanding optimal criminal networks Stephen T. Easton and Alexander K. Karaivanov 5. How illegal drugs enter an island country: insights from interviews with incarcerated smugglers Jonathan P. Caulkins, Honora Burnett and Edward Leslie 6. Economic analysis of drug transaction ‘cycles’ described by incarcerated UK drug dealers Jonathan P. Caulkins, Benjamin Gurga and Christopher Little 7. The market for crystalline methamphetamine in Sydney, Australia Rebecca McKetin, Jennifer McLaren, Erin Kelly and Jenny Chalmers 8. The black market in China for tiger products Brendan Moyle 9. Exploring the organization of Russia Far East’s illegal wildlife trade: two case studies of the illegal fur and illegal falcon trades Tanya Wyatt

Author Bio

Martin Bouchard is Assistant Professor at the School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University. His work specialises in the organisation of illegal drug markets, with a special emphasis on cannabis cultivation. Recent work on illegal drug markets appeared in Contemporary Drug Problems, International Journal of Drug Policy, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Journal of Drug Issues, Justice Quarterly, and Global Crime.

Chris Wilkins is a senior researcher at the Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SHORE), Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand. He has special expertise in illegal drug research with a particular interest in the economics of illegal drug markets and organised crime. Dr. Wilkins has published articles in Addiction, Drug & Alcohol Review, De Economist, Contemporary Drug Problems and the International Journal of Drug Policy.

Related Subjects

1. Microeconomics
2. Organised Crime
3. Organized Crime
4. White Collar Crime - Forms of Crime