Repository logo
  • Log In
    New user? Click here to register.Have you forgotten your password?
University College Dublin
  • Colleges & Schools
  • Statistics
  • All of DSpace
  • Log In
    New user? Click here to register.Have you forgotten your password?
  1. Home
  2. College of Social Sciences and Law
  3. School of Economics
  4. Economics Working Papers & Policy Papers
  5. Drugs on the Web, Crime in the Streets - The Impact of Dark Web Marketplaces on Street Crime
 
  • Details
Options

Drugs on the Web, Crime in the Streets - The Impact of Dark Web Marketplaces on Street Crime

File(s)
FileDescriptionSizeFormat
Download WP20_25.pdf1013.91 KB
Author(s)
Zambiasi, Diego 
Uri
http://hdl.handle.net/10197/11645
Date Issued
September 2020
Date Available
30T11:39:05Z October 2020
Abstract
The Dark Web has changed the way drugs are traded globally by shifting trade away from the streets and onto the web. In this paper, I study whether the Dark Web has an impact on street crime, a common side effect of traditional drug trade. To identify a causal effect, I use daily data from the US and exploit unexpected shutdowns of large online drug trading platforms. In a regression discontinuity design, I compare crime rates in days after the shutdowns to those immediately preceding them. I find that shutting down Dark Web markets leads to a significant increase in drug trade in the streets. However, the effect is short-lived. In the days immediately following shutdowns, drug-related crimes increase by five to almost ten percent but revert to pre-shutdown levels within ten days. I find no impact of shutdowns of Dark Web marketplaces on thefts, assaults, homicides and prostitution.
Type of Material
Working Paper
Publisher
University College Dublin. School of Economics
Start Page
1
End Page
45
Series
UCD Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series
WP2020/25
Copyright (Published Version)
2020 the Author
Keywords
  • Dark web

  • Darknet markets

  • Drugs

  • Crime

Classification
K42
K24
L13
Language
English
Status of Item
Not peer reviewed
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/
Owning collection
Economics Working Papers & Policy Papers
Views
665
Last Month
1
Acquisition Date
Feb 6, 2023
View Details
Downloads
251
Last Week
3
Last Month
14
Acquisition Date
Feb 6, 2023
View Details
google-scholar
University College Dublin Research Repository UCD
The Library, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4
Phone: +353 (0)1 716 7583
Fax: +353 (0)1 283 7667
Email: mailto:research.repository@ucd.ie
Guide: http://libguides.ucd.ie/rru

Built with DSpace-CRIS software - Extension maintained and optimized by 4Science

  • Cookie settings
  • Privacy policy
  • End User Agreement