2017
DOI: 10.1017/s002205071700078x
|View full text |Cite
|
Sign up to set email alerts
|

Origins of the Sicilian Mafia: The Market for Lemons

Abstract: In this article, we study the emergence of an extractive institution that hampered economic development in Italy for more than a century: the Sicilian ma a. Since its rst appearance in the late 1800s, the reasons behind the rise of the Sicilian ma a have remained a puzzle. In this article, we argue that the ma a arose as a response to an exogenous shock in the demand for oranges and lemons, following Lind's discovery in the late eighteenth century that citrus fruits cured scurvy. More speci cally, we claim tha… Show more

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...
1
1

Citation Types

1
57
0
2

Year Published

2021
2021
2024
2024

Publication Types

Select...
5
2

Relationship

0
7

Authors

Journals

citations
Cited by 96 publications
(60 citation statements)
references
References 24 publications
1
57
0
2
Order By: Relevance
“…Moreover, while research on the origins of organized crime has placed key significance to the institutional framework (see Gambetta, 1993;Bandiera, 2003;Dimico et al, 2012;Konrad and Skaperdas, 2012;Buonanno et al, 2014), such institutional focus has remained under-developed in the empirical literature assessing the economic and/or political consequences of organized crime.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
See 3 more Smart Citations
“…Moreover, while research on the origins of organized crime has placed key significance to the institutional framework (see Gambetta, 1993;Bandiera, 2003;Dimico et al, 2012;Konrad and Skaperdas, 2012;Buonanno et al, 2014), such institutional focus has remained under-developed in the empirical literature assessing the economic and/or political consequences of organized crime.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Finally, using Granger causality tests and information on mafia-related homicides (measured at the province level due to lack of more detailed statistics) over the period 2000-2010, we establish more firmly that causality runs from organized crime to political quality: i.e. the historical prevalence of mafia-related homicides significantly negatively affects the current education level of local politicians, but historical education levels of politicians have no significant effect on mafia-related homicides.Overall, therefore, we find that the institutional framework -and, in particular, improved law enforcement -affects not only the origins of criminal organizations (Gambetta, 1993;Bandiera, 2003;Dimico et al, 2012;Konrad and Skaperdas, 2012;Buonanno et al, 2014), but also their political (and thereby economic) consequences.The next section briefly discusses the theoretical background of our analysis. Then, we present the data and empirical strategy employed.…”
mentioning
confidence: 77%
See 2 more Smart Citations
“…Moreover, organised crime has been widely neglected by the empirical literature on crime (Fiorentini and Peltzman, 1997). Among the few exceptions, Bandiera (2003), Dimico et al (2012) and Buonanno et al (2015) investigate the historical origins of the Sicilian Mafia, focusing in particular on the racket of private protection at the end of the nineteenth century, while Frye and Zhuravskaya (2000) examine the case of modern Russia; Mastrobuoni (2015) studies the network structure of the Italian-American organisation 'Cosa Nostra'; Dell (2011) estimates the effects of law enforcement on drug-trade related violence and drug-trafficking routes; finally, Pinotti (2013) and Daniele and Geys (2015) examine the implications of mafia activity for the quality of the political class. I contribute to this strand of literature by investigating the economic consequences of organised crime for the level and composition of GDP per capita.…”
Section: Paolo Pinottimentioning
confidence: 99%