IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jpolmo/v43y2021i5p1110-1130.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shall we follow the money? Anti-mafia policies and electoral competition

Author

Listed:
  • Ferrante, Livio
  • Reito, Francesco
  • Spagano, Salvatore
  • Torrisi, Gianpiero

Abstract

Building upon the evidence that the mafia increases the degree of vote concentration, we use data on regional elections in Sicily to estimate the impact of anti-mafia policies on electoral competition. We find robust evidence that the reassignment for social purposes of property and assets seized to the mafia reduces the degree of electoral concentration. This result supports the hypothesis that policies that create social value, such as the reallocation to social-driven organizations, are more effective than those targeted to public and political institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferrante, Livio & Reito, Francesco & Spagano, Salvatore & Torrisi, Gianpiero, 2021. "Shall we follow the money? Anti-mafia policies and electoral competition," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 1110-1130.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:43:y:2021:i:5:p:1110-1130
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2021.03.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161893821000521
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2021.03.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paolo Buonanno & Ruben Durante & Giovanni Prarolo & Paolo Vanin, 2015. "Poor Institutions, Rich Mines: Resource Curse in the Origins of the Sicilian Mafia," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(586), pages 175-202, August.
    2. Kiewiet, D. Roderick, 1981. "Policy-Oriented Voting in Response to Economic Issues," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 75(2), pages 448-459, June.
    3. Giuseppe De Feo & Giacomo Davide De Luca, 2017. "Mafia in the Ballot Box," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 134-167, August.
    4. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 1-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Ferwerda Joras, 2009. "The Economics of Crime and Money Laundering: Does Anti-Money Laundering Policy Reduce Crime?," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 5(2), pages 903-929, December.
    6. Gianmarco Daniele & Benny Geys, 2015. "Organised Crime, Institutions and Political Quality: Empirical Evidence from Italian Municipalities," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(586), pages 233-255, August.
    7. Daniele, Gianmarco & Dipoppa, Gemma, 2017. "Mafia, elections and violence against politicians," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 10-33.
    8. repec:cep:cepcnp:cep410 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Kollias, Christos & Mylonidis, Nikolaos & Paleologou, Suzanna-Maria, 2013. "Crime and the effectiveness of public order spending in Greece: Policy implications of some persistent findings," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 121-133.
    10. Oriana Bandiera, 2003. "Land Reform, the Market for Protection, and the Origins of the Sicilian Mafia: Theory and Evidence," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 218-244, April.
    11. Andrew Goodman-Bacon, 2018. "Difference-in-Differences with Variation in Treatment Timing," NBER Working Papers 25018, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Antonio Acconcia & Giancarlo Corsetti & Saverio Simonelli, 2014. "Mafia and Public Spending: Evidence on the Fiscal Multiplier from a Quasi-experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 2185-2209, July.
    13. Philip J. Cook & Stephen Machin & Olivier Marie & Giovanni Mastrobuoni, 2014. "Lessons from the economics of crime," CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance 410, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. Elisa Operti, 2018. "Tough on criminal wealth? Exploring the link between organized crime’s asset confiscation and regional entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 321-335, August.
    15. Alberto Chong & Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes, 2015. "Money Laundering and Its Regulation," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 78-123, March.
    16. Corrado, Germana & Rossetti, Fiammetta, 2018. "Public corruption: A study across regions in Italy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1126-1139.
    17. Daron Acemoglu & Giuseppe De Feo & Giacomo Davide De Luca, 2020. "Weak States: Causes and Consequences of the Sicilian Mafia," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(2), pages 537-581.
    18. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D’Haultfoeuille & Yannick Guyonvarch, 2019. "Fuzzy differences-in-differences with Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 19(2), pages 435-458, June.
    19. M. Alfano & A. Baraldi, 2015. "Is there an optimal level of political competition in terms of economic growth? Evidence from Italy," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 263-285, April.
    20. Galletta, Sergio, 2017. "Law enforcement, municipal budgets and spillover effects: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in Italy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 90-105.
    21. Jean-Marie Baland & James A. Robinson, 2008. "Land and Power: Theory and Evidence from Chile," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1737-1765, December.
    22. Costa, Antonio Maria, 2010. "The economics of crime: A discipline to be invented and a Nobel Prize to be awarded," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 648-661, September.
    23. Paolo Esposito & Paolo Ricci, 2015. "How to turn public (dis)value into new public value? Evidence from Italy," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 227-231, May.
    24. Douglas L. Miller & Na’ama Shenhav & Michel Grosz, 2023. "Selection into Identification in Fixed Effects Models, with Application to Head Start," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(5), pages 1523-1566.
    25. Buonanno, Paolo & Prarolo, Giovanni & Vanin, Paolo, 2016. "Organized crime and electoral outcomes. Evidence from Sicily at the turn of the XXI century," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 61-74.
    26. Avinash K. Dixit, 2007. "Economics With and Without the Law, from Lawlessness and Economics: Alternative Modes of Governance," Introductory Chapters, in: Lawlessness and Economics: Alternative Modes of Governance, Princeton University Press.
    27. Wright, John R., 2012. "Unemployment and the Democratic Electoral Advantage," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(4), pages 685-702, November.
    28. Bloise, Francesco & Chironi, Daniela & Pianta, Mario, 2019. "Inequality and elections in Italian regions," MPRA Paper 96416, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    29. Raffaella Barone & Donato Masciandaro, 2011. "Organized crime, money laundering and legal economy: theory and simulations," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 115-142, August.
    30. Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson & Rafael J. Santos, 2013. "The Monopoly Of Violence: Evidence From Colombia," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11, pages 5-44, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Resce, Giuliano, 2022. "The impact of political and non-political officials on the financial management of local governments," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 943-962.
    2. Resce, Giuliano, 2022. "Political and Non-Political Officials in Local Government," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp22079, University of Molise, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicola Mastrorocco, 2018. "Organised Crime, Captured Politicians and the Allocation of Public Resources," Trinity Economics Papers tep1018, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    2. Marco Di Cataldo & Nicola Mastrorocco, 2022. "Organized Crime, Captured Politicians, and the Allocation of Public Resources [“Mafiaand Public Spending: Evidence on the Fiscal Multiplier from a Quasi-Experiment]," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 38(3), pages 774-839.
    3. Francesca M. Calamunci & Livio Ferrante & Rossana Scebba, 2022. "Closed for mafia: Evidence from the removal of mafia firms on commercial property values," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(5), pages 1487-1511, November.
    4. Paolo Buonanno & Irene Ferrari & Alessandro Saia, 2023. "ALL IS NOT LOST: Organized Crime and Social Capital Formation," Working Papers 2023: 16, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari", revised 2024.
    5. Boeri, Filippo & Di Cataldo, Marco & Pietrostefani, Elisabetta, 2022. "Localised effects of re-allocated real estate mafia assets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 116682, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Caglayan, Mustafa & Flamini, Alessandro & Jahanshahi, Babak, 2021. "Hindering human capital accumulation: A hidden cost of the silent mafia?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 828-845.
    7. Pietro A. Bianchi & Antonio Marra & Donato Masciandaro & Nicola Pecchiari, 2017. "Is It Worth Having the Sopranos on Board? Corporate Governance Pollution and Organized Crime: The Case of Italy," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 1759, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    8. Cavalieri, Marina & Finocchiaro Castro, Massimo & Guccio, Calogero, 2023. "Organised crime and educational outcomes in Southern Italy: An empirical investigation," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    9. Daron Acemoglu & Giuseppe De Feo & Giacomo Davide De Luca, 2020. "Weak States: Causes and Consequences of the Sicilian Mafia," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(2), pages 537-581.
    10. Anna Laura Baraldi & Erasmo Pagani & Marco Stimolo, 2022. "Neutralizing the Tentacles of Organized Crime. Assessment of an Anti-Crime Measure in Fighting Mafia Violence," Working Papers 2022.18, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    11. Baraldi, Anna Laura & Papagni, Erasmo & Stimolo, Marco, 2023. "Neutralizing the Tentacles of Organized Crime. Assessment of the Impact of an Anti-Crime Measure on Mafia Violence in Italy," FEEM Working Papers 335068, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    12. Baraldi, Anna Laura & Immordino, Giovanni & Stimolo, Marco, 2022. "Self-selecting candidates or compelling voters: How organized crime affects political selection," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    13. Livio Ferrante & Stefania Fontana & Francesco Reito, 2021. "Mafia and bricks: unfair competition in local markets and policy interventions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1461-1484, April.
    14. Anna Laura Baraldi & Erasmo Pagani & Marco Stimolo, 2023. "Neutralizing the Tentacles of Organized Crime. Assessment of the Impact of an Anti-Crime Measure on Mafia Violence in Italy," Working Papers 2023.10, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    15. Giovanni Bernardo & Irene Brunetti & Mehmet Pinar & Thanasis Stengos, 2021. "Measuring the presence of organized crime across Italian provinces: a sensitivity analysis," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 31-95, February.
    16. Baraldi, Anna Laura & Papagni, Erasmo & Stimolo, Marco, 2022. "Neutralizing the Tentacles of Organized Crime. Assessment of an Anti-Crime Measure in Fighting Mafia Violence," FEEM Working Papers 322775, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    17. P. Buonanno & G. Prarolo & P. Vanin, 2014. "Organized Crime and Electoral Outcomes in Sicily," Working Papers wp965, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    18. Daniele, Gianmarco, 2019. "Strike one to educate one hundred: Organized crime, political selection and politicians’ ability," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 650-662.
    19. Paolo Pinotti, 0. "The Credibility Revolution in the Empirical Analysis of Crime," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 0, pages 1-14.
    20. Pinotti, Paolo, 2020. "The credibility revolution in the empirical analysis of crime," CEPR Discussion Papers 14850, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Elections; Vote concentration; Criminal organizations; Mafia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:43:y:2021:i:5:p:1110-1130. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505735 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.