This report has identified several often overlapping or mutually reinforcing criminal economies operating in West Africa. They use different methods, and are enabled by networks of both domestic and international actors. This chapter proposes an analytical framework for understanding the implications of criminal economies and their IFFs, based on three factors: where the good is sourced and whether there is a local market; the actors or networks involved; and where the IFFs are earned and invested. Applying this analytical framework conveys the nature and scope of the criminal economy in question, the underlying actors, interests and incentives behind it and the priority for harm-mitigating responses. It then provides a brief look at 13 different forms of criminal economies, according to a three-part typology: illegal activities, illicit trade in legal goods and illicit resource extraction. Each case provides an overview of the scale of the flow, the geographic area of vulnerability, the key actors involved, and the implications and impacts of illicit financial flows.