The Economics of Agricultural and Wildlife Smuggling
Submitted on Oct 04, 2009 (Original item from September 2009)
Wildlife and Exotics | Wildlife
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Short Description:
Imports of certain agricultural and wildlife goods that may carry pathogens or diseases are banned in the United States, although items of this nature are routinely discovered during cargo inspections. This study identifies the economic factors affecting this type of smuggling, based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Abstract:
Agricultural and wildlife smuggling involves items that command a high price compared with cost and size, including luxury items and jewelry, ethnic foods, and specialty goods. Incidents involving such smuggling most frequently originate from Mexico and China, although certain goods tend to come more frequently from certain countries:
- China - meat
- Mexico - fruits and vegetables
- Mexico and Russia - wildlife goods
Wildlife smuggling accounts for about 1% of all commercial wildlife shipments to the United States and about 0.4% of the total value of U.S. Wildlife imports. Agricultural smuggling accounts for about 0.03% of total agricultural imports from China.
Smugglers are motivated by profits and, consequently, governments may reduce the incentive to smuggle by increasing the costs of the activity through higher penalties and tighter enforcement to reduce the return on investment provided by smuggling.
Spot Check Number:
1180
Sponsor:
United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service
Animal Type:
Wildlife
Record Type:
Research Study
Research Method:
Literature Review
Geographic Region:
United States National
Year Conducted:
September 2009
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