These data include prices and quantities of drugs sold, wages, expenditures on guns, tribute paid to higher-ups in the gang, and the like. The second paper, written from a more sociological perspective, analyzes the life-course of gang involvement, what factors influence the decision to join, what skills and behaviors help a gang member to rise, and when and why is gang participation scaled back or abandoned as an individual ages. Street-level sellers are paid roughly the minimum wage. The dispersion of income is just as great in the gang as in corporate America. Economics predict quite accurately many aspects of gang behavior.
Wages rise during gang wars, supporting the economic concept of compensating differentials.
As the gang expands, its market power rises, and so do prices. Low skilled workers are paid low wages. This desire for upward mobility, closed off in more traditional channels, appears to be critical to the allure of the gang. Policies that attempt to fight gangs must take this into account.