Mafia Origins, Land Distribution, and Crop Diversification

Michele Battisti, Giovanni Bernardo, Andros Kourtellos and Andrea Lavezzi

University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics from University of Cyprus Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper explores the historical roots of land inequality in Sicily and its relationship with the Mafia presence. Using earthquake intensity as an instrumental variable to address endogeneity concerns, we find that greater land inequality in the past leads to a higher incidence of Mafia activity. Moreover, we show that contemporaneous socio-economic conditions did not drive the effect but reflected persistent historical inequality patterns. Our results suggest that policies to reduce land inequality and promote land reform could have effectively curbed organized crime in Eastern Sicily and other areas with a similar history of inequality.

Keywords: organized crime. mafia; land inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 H75 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 pages
Date: 2023-06-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-his and nep-law
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucy:cypeua:03-2023

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