Building the Modern State in Developing Countries: Security and Taxes in Mexico

This talk provides novel micro-level evidence of the relationship between two central aspects of state capacity, taxation and the provision of law and order. Drawing on an original nationally-representative survey conducted in the context of Mexico’s war on drugs, we estimate through a novel technique the size of the fiscal sacrifice citizens are willing to make to improve public safety, and investigate the determinants of attitudes towards heavier taxation for this end.