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Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Mexico's Illicit Economy Is Worth $50 Billion Per Year

Yesterday Global Financial Integrity released a new report, "Mexico: Illicit Financial Flows, Macroeconomic Imbalances, and the Underground Economy," which provides an in-depth look at flows of illicit money from Mexico. The study finds that nearly $1 trillion in illicit capital left Mexico from 1970-2010, averaging about $50 billion a year this past decade. Illicit outflows have increased over time - in 1970 only $3 billion of illicit money left the country per year - and experienced particularly large upswings during macroeconomic crises. These flows decreased by more than 50 percent as a share of exports, though this is largely because exports overall increased dramatically as Mexico transformed from a relatively closed to open economy.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

And how much of that went to police, politicians, border agents, etc.

War on drugs is a farce. Too much money involved. If they made it legal, profits would go down. Can't have that now can we.

We are their biggest customers after all.

Anonymous said...

How much US money goes there from Western Union each Friday.

Anonymous said...

How much US money goes there from Western Union each Friday.

February 1, 2012 6:32 PM

Beats me but I would find a cheaper way to send money.