Illicit drug prices and quantity discounts: A comparison between a cryptomarket, social media, and police data

Illicit drugs are increasingly sold on cryptomarkets and social media. Buyers sellers perceive these online transactions as less risky than conventional street-level exchanges. Following the Risks & Prices framework, law enforcement is largest cost component of illicit drug distribution. We examine whether prices lower media reported by primarily offline markets. Data consists advertisements for in Sweden 2018, scraped from cryptomarket Flugsvamp 2.0 (n = 826) collected with digital ethnography Facebook 446). Observations herbal cannabis 421), resin, hash 594), cocaine 257) 156 sellers. compared estimates Swedish police districts 53). Three multilevel linear regression models estimated, one each type, comparing price levels discount elasticities platform between platform. Price similar two platforms, but slightly more expensive There quantity discounts all three types both platforms coefficients -0.10 -0.21. Despite higher competition cryptomarkets, not to Online those at 1 g level. Mean This provides support notion that research can also inform market analysis a broader sense. constitute new detailed transaction-level data source supply-side information research.