Hindering human capital accumulation: A hidden cost of the silent mafia?

Mustafa Caglayan; Alessandro Flamini; Babak Jahanshahi

doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2021.05.029

Hindering human capital accumulation: A hidden cost of the silent mafia?

Mustafa Caglayan, Alessandro Flamini^*, Babak Jahanshahi

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Since the 1970s, mafias have embedded outside South Italy though employing steadily less violence in establishing their illegal business. Could this rooting and social adaptation in the most productive areas of the country impair human capital accumulation? We provide evidence of a decline in human capital in those areas that were initially wealthy and innovative before mafias established their presence and influence. Our estimates suggest that, for the top 75% of mafia-infiltrated provinces, a reduction by 25 percentiles in their position within the mafia ranking could increase the number of university graduates per capita by 4–21%.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	828-845
Number of pages	18
Journal	Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Volume	188
Early online date	24 Jun 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.05.029
Publication status	Published - Aug 2021

Keywords

Education
Human capital
Mafia
Organised crime
Tertiary education

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Economics and Econometrics
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jebo.2021.05.029

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© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
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title = "Hindering human capital accumulation: A hidden cost of the silent mafia?",

abstract = "Since the 1970s, mafias have embedded outside South Italy though employing steadily less violence in establishing their illegal business. Could this rooting and social adaptation in the most productive areas of the country impair human capital accumulation? We provide evidence of a decline in human capital in those areas that were initially wealthy and innovative before mafias established their presence and influence. Our estimates suggest that, for the top 75% of mafia-infiltrated provinces, a reduction by 25 percentiles in their position within the mafia ranking could increase the number of university graduates per capita by 4–21%.",

keywords = "Education, Human capital, Mafia, Organised crime, Tertiary education",

author = "Mustafa Caglayan and Alessandro Flamini and Babak Jahanshahi",

note = "Funding Information: Part of this paper was written while Alessandro Flamini was visiting the Department of Economics at Harvard University, whose kind hospitality is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Alberto Alesina for support and useful discussions. We also benefited from useful discussions with Philippe Aghion, May Chiabrera, Giuseppe De Feo, Melissa Dell, Lorenzo Frigerio, Claudia Goldin, Roberto Impicciatore, Lawrence Katz, Luigi Zingales and seminar participants at the 2017 EEA Congress. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier B.V.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jebo.2021.05.029",

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AU - Caglayan, Mustafa

AU - Flamini, Alessandro

AU - Jahanshahi, Babak

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N2 - Since the 1970s, mafias have embedded outside South Italy though employing steadily less violence in establishing their illegal business. Could this rooting and social adaptation in the most productive areas of the country impair human capital accumulation? We provide evidence of a decline in human capital in those areas that were initially wealthy and innovative before mafias established their presence and influence. Our estimates suggest that, for the top 75% of mafia-infiltrated provinces, a reduction by 25 percentiles in their position within the mafia ranking could increase the number of university graduates per capita by 4–21%.

AB - Since the 1970s, mafias have embedded outside South Italy though employing steadily less violence in establishing their illegal business. Could this rooting and social adaptation in the most productive areas of the country impair human capital accumulation? We provide evidence of a decline in human capital in those areas that were initially wealthy and innovative before mafias established their presence and influence. Our estimates suggest that, for the top 75% of mafia-infiltrated provinces, a reduction by 25 percentiles in their position within the mafia ranking could increase the number of university graduates per capita by 4–21%.

KW - Education

KW - Human capital

KW - Mafia

KW - Organised crime

KW - Tertiary education

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ER -

Hindering human capital accumulation: A hidden cost of the silent mafia?

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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