Book Review: Political Economy of Illegal Drugs
| Author | Neil Olley |
| DOI | 10.1177/096466390501400311 |
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
PIERRE KOPP, Political Economy of Illegal Drugs. London: Routledge, 2004.
Pierre Kopp’s book analyses, from the perspective of economics, the significance that
drug markets have on consumer and dealer behaviour and vice versa. It is a some-
times counterintuitive attempt to unravel certain specific policy-related scenarios or
questions. While Kopp confesses the book to be written primarily for microecono-
mists interested in real-world problems, he also hopes the book to be read by inter-
ested policy-makers and criminologists. The casual student, or mathematical formula
averse reader, may find themselves skipping parts of the analysis but there are sections
of this book that could be a genuine resource for social policy and criminology.
The book is structured into three parts comprising seven main chapters. The first
part gives an introduction to an economic evaluation of the flow of drugs in the
market and to actor behaviour (Chapter 1), and to the question as to how public
policy can affect behaviour through price elasticity of demand (Chapter 2). Chapter
3 examines the alternatives of prohibition or legalization but opens up these zero sum
models by admitting that, economically, neither model can be supported. Some may
see this as frustrating, while others may see it more as a relief. Following on from this,
Chapter 4 identifies public policy within the prohibition framework as the only prac-
tical factual basis of analysis, and opts for a ‘minimization of social cost’ approach,
an approach already being used in a number of European countries. Chapter 5
continues the discussion of ‘minimization’ in the context of public policy priorities,
efficiency and social cost. The last part of the book is concerned with an analysis of
enforcement. While the connection between this part and the preceding parts seems
rather unclear, the last two chapters are arguably of most interest to a broader range
of readers. Chapter 6 discusses enforcement and the divergence in types of dealers
and thus the different impact of policing on the different dealers. Chapter 7 produces
a similarly complex analysis of money laundering, its size, use and policing.
Kopp provides a detailed overview of many of the key aspects of the drug economy.
He starts in the first chapter by challenging the size of estimates of the global sales
value because much of the turnover from drug sales is made outside the western hemi-
sphere for much less value than it has inside it. This minimizing approach provides
an underlying theme throughout a number of stages of the book. This is in step with
his attempt to discuss, economically, ‘what criminal organisations really are, not the
image . . .’ (p. 31) so that public policy is more accurately suited to the task.
Chapter 2 proceeds to discuss public policy, the addict, and the comparative
analysis of the elasticity of demand for drugs. It is here that the ‘concrete’ and ‘real’
nature of these economic approaches begins to feel just a little unclear. In this chapter,
Kopp talks mostly of drugs generally and of a consumer who has only just entered
the market (p. 50). To non-economists this is confusing as without at least recognizing
the problems with comparable data across different cultures and a diverse array of
illegal drugs with differing markets and drug policy histories, the impact of this
analysis is both reduced and hard to pin to any one ‘reality’. Second, drug policy is
practically always concerned with the user who is long term/addicted. A problem
user is by definition one that has become a social problem. This is the central business
of drug policy and markets. Many criminologists might want to contest the notion
that all consumer behaviour is better explained by price/income variation rather
than, say, peer groups. However, objections by sociological criminology may be
slightly unfair since the manifest aim of the book is to examine drugs policy from
an economic perspective; the challenge for criminology is how best to incorporate
economic insights into its own theoretical models. Matching and grounding these
economic models to real markets, as is only tentatively done in a very limited number
of occasions, would arguably prove more fruitful for concrete policy debates.
BOOK REVIEWS 445
06 055692 Reviews (bc-s) 12/7/05 3:25 pm Page 445
To continue reading
Request your trial