Inflow Inventory Premium 3.1.1 Crack Cocaine
Oludare Padilla
In 2015, Liberian authorities seized approximately 18.8 metric tons (MT) of marijuana, 1.87 kilograms (kg) of cocaine, and 6.2 kg of heroin. In 2014, 2.5 kilograms of cocaine and 1.9 kilograms of heroin were seized.
The supply chain process starts from the production of cannabis, from planting to packaging, comprising a series of techniques with a lower degree of complexity than other drugs such as cocaine. Inbound logistics are activities associated with receiving, storing, and distribution inputs to the product, such as material handling, warehousing, inventory control, vehicle scheduling, and returns to suppliers (Koc and Bozdag, 2017). These activities relate to the cannabis farming stage. In this phase we can distinguish two main activities, sowing the seed and harvesting and drying.
The supply chain process continues with the outbound logistics. Hashish shipments to the Iberian Peninsula are produced from specific locations in the North Coast of Morocco (e.g., Guat el Marssa, Oued Laou, Sidi Abdeslam), to some coastal towns of Spain (e.g., La Linea in Cadiz). Several steps are involved in the study of the outbound logistics network (see Fig. 6). This network is made up of a group of interconnected activities such as transportation, distribution, storage, inventory levels, packaging, and materials handling, to guarantee the efficiency of the distribution of finished products to customers (Mentzer et al., 2001).
Rickenbacker was wearing an electronic monitoring device through which investigating officers heard Gaffney describe his purchases of crack cocaine from the Legrees in recent months. No amounts were attributed to the conspiracy as the result of this conversation
We note the obvious discrepancy between an estimated 500 grams of crack in two-thirds of a gallon baggie and an estimated 1000 grams of crack in a full gallon bag. But we also note that there was evidence that both estimates were very conservative. A witness at the sentencing hearing, a United States Probation Officer named Avenger, testified that in his estimation at least 1800 to 2000 grams of crack cocaine would fit in a gallon-sized bag. Another witness, Detective Heaton, testified that in his opinion, at least 2000 grams of cocaine hydrochloride would fit in a gallon-sized baggie. He also demonstrated this fact by showing the district court a gallon-sized bag in which were 1000 grams of cocaine, which he said would "easily hold another kilogram." Detective Heaton further testified that the 1000 grams of crack was "a very good representation" of 1000 grams of powdered sugar used by the Probation Office to estimate the mass of crack. Although the density of crack or cocaine hydrochloride is not a measurement presently available to us, the density of sugar is approximately 1.5 times that of water, and a gallon of water weighs approximately 3764 grams (because one liter of water weighs one kilogram, and there are 1.057 quarts in a liter). Thus, a gallon of sugar would weigh approximately 5646 grams
Although none of this is precise due to the unavailability of a measurement for the density of crack or cocaine hydrochloride, we are certain that the weight estimations used by the Probation Office and by the district court for a full gallon-sized bag and two-thirds of a gallon-sized bag are quite underestimated. Moreover, while we do not know the size of the shoe boxes referred to in the record, see infra note 8, it seems evident that they would not hold less than one-half gallon, and thus that more than 2000 grams would fit into each of them. Accordingly, those estimates, as well, were slanted favorably toward the defendants. In view of the above calculations, we are convinced that any errors in the calculations of the weights of drug amounts involved in this case quite heavily favored the defendants.
Like Card 1991 and many other spatial studies, Cortes 2008 instruments the immigration inflow with a prediction of that inflow based on past immigration patterns. And as in Card 2001, while the instrument is not beyond challenge, introducing it shifts the results in a direction that makes sense. Without the instrument, the correlation across US cities between low-skill immigration and prices for low-skill-intensive services is mildly negative. With the instrument, the apparent impact of immigration on the studied prices rises three- to five-fold (Cortes 2008, Table 5). This suggests, plausibly, that low-skill immigrants move to cities where the prices for (and thus wages in) low-skill-intensive services are higher, which positive correlation statistically masks any downward pressure the immigrants put on wages upon arrival. Evidently, instrumenting removes some or all of this effect.
The evidence base does not support us with certainties, only best bets. In this case, a variety of studies deploying different methods in different contexts, and some general knowledge about how economies work, coalesce into a fairly consistent picture. Industrial economies can generally absorb migrants fairly quickly, in part because capital is flexible, in part because immigrants are consumers as well as producers. Thus, long-term average impacts are probably zero at worst. And the long-term may come quickly, especially if migration inflows are predictable to investors. Possibly, skilled immigration boosts productivity and wages for many others, but at this point that is mostly a matter of conjecture.
Looking ahead, a proportionally larger or less skill-balanced immigration inflow could have larger impacts. A more legal inflow, on the other hand, might reduce the economic ghettoization of immigrant low-skill workers and diffuse their competitive impacts more evenly.
582128177f