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Virtual CINA Distinguished Speaker Series- Siddharth Chandra: Using Economic Principles to Identify and Understand Drug Trafficking Networks
April 23, 2020 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
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The CINA Distinguished Speaker Series invites leading experts from fields related to the disruption of criminal activities across the physical and cyber spaces. Join us for a discussion about drug trafficking, and learn how economic data can provide insights into the flow and operations of illicit drug markets and networks.
Using Economic Principles to Identify and Understand Drug Trafficking Networks
Abstract
Networks through which drugs are trafficked are in many ways similar to networks for legal goods. As such, they are governed by the same economic principles that govern networks for legal goods. This project explores ways in which economic principles can be used to identify networks for illicit drugs using economic data. The information inherent in data on the prices, seizures, or purity of illicit drugs can be extracted to provide information about drug flows. Complementary methods such as network analysis can convert this information into insights about drug markets and networks, which can inform law enforcement efforts and policies. To the extent that drug trafficking networks overlap with or are similar to networks for human, wildlife, or arms trafficking, the methods and insights of this project may also be applicable to these overlapping or similar illicit networks.
Presenter Biography
Dr. Chandra is the director of the Asian Studies Center and Professor of Economics at the James Madison College at Michigan State University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University, A.M. (Ph.D. pass) in economics from the University of Chicago, and B.A. (with honors) in economics from Brandeis University. Prior to joining Michigan State University, Dr. Chandra was Director of the Asian Studies Center and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include the study of markets, behavior, and policy relating to psychoactive substances, the 1918 influenza pandemic and lessons for modern pandemics, and case studies of mass violence and genocide.