Migrant Smuggling Across the Mediterranean: An Economic Analysis

In this chapter we provide an analysis of migrant smuggling across the Central Mediterranean Route. The analysis will be carried out through the lenses of economic analysis and of organized crime studies. Our work is based on in-depth interviews conducted with smuggled migrants, and immigration and anti-smuggling operators, with particular focus on land smuggling in West Africa, i.e. from Agadez in Niger into Libya. We will extrapolate the stylized facts of smuggling from the demand side for such ‘service’, i.e. from the migrants, and propose an economic interpretation. In particular our main findings are: i) the distinction between smuggling and trafficking is not clear-cut, as African migrant smuggling implies coercion of various types. We will describe instances in which the migrant is exploited both descriptively and in economic terms; ii) this has relevant consequences for the current discussion on policies to contrast smuggling.