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As indicated in the Italian law (No. 109-1996), agri-food co-operatives can also play a role in combatting mafia-type systems by choosing to grow their food products in lands confiscated from mafia-type organisations. These food products provide individuals with a new opportunity to fight criminal organisations on the marketplace. The purpose of this study is to explore how people react to a social marketing initiative devoted to promoting food “buycotting” to counteract mafia-type organisations in Italy.

The data were obtained from a convenience sample of 339 Italians, and the study adopted a model inspired by the general theory of marketing ethics. A structural equation model was applied to estimate both the parameter and coefficient functions.

Individuals recognise the ethical value of “buycotting”. However, they perceive this form of critical choice as not yet being fully effective in counteracting mafia-type systems in Italy.

The results suggest that promotional and psychological approaches from marketing literature can be effectively used to influence the consumer’s ethical judgement by selectively communicating and emphasising the benefits of the critical consumption investigated.

This is one of the first studies to address consumers’ ethical judgments and their reactions towards buycotting food as a critical choice to reward socially responsible corporations.

The paper aims to investigate pro-social behaviour of Italian consumers during the decision-making process of buying food produced in lands confiscated from Mafia-type organisations. This is assumed as a form of buycotting, thus as an ethical purchasing choice to contribute to social change.

Data from 339 interviews were elaborated with a cluster analysis. The difference between groups was confirmed using MANOVA, whereas the multivariate multiple regression analysis was carried out to assess the difference between clusters.

Three types of consumer groups are identified: absolutists, exceptionists and subjectivists. Coherent with previous studies, findings also highlight the relevance of information acquisition and of the self-effectiveness perception as key factors to stimulate pro-social behaviours.

With a social marketing perspective, the paper offers useful suggestions to promote political consumerism as a critical choice to contribute to fight against Mafia-type organisations and to spread a culture of lawfulness.

This study aims to investigate transition patterns originating from the confiscation of mafia-type firms, examining public administrations and nonprofit organizations' roles.

This study investigates the case of “Calcestruzzi Ericina Libera,” a firm located in Sicily and confiscated from the Mafia in 1996. The analysis covers an extended period (approximately 25 years).

The empirical analysis documents the pivotal role of informal networks, comprising public administrations and nonprofit organizations. Confiscation processes are successful if transition management strategies are governed through a network and a collaborative approach is followed after the confiscation to support the firm.

Mafia-type firms have been examined academically from different perspectives, but few studies have focused on the steps taken after their confiscation.

The paper aims at expanding knowledge on the presence of organized criminal groups in public contract procurement in the south of Italy. It seeks to highlight how the capabilities of law enforcement agencies could be enhanced by means of criminological models.

The paper sets out a criminological model with which to assess the general and specific risks of the infiltration of public procurement in the south of Italy by organized crime (OC).

According to the geographical risk assessment, infiltration by OC of public procurement seems to be widespread in some areas of south Italy, especially Sicily, Calabria and Campania. On the other hand, the specific risk may increase according to certain features of the company and its representatives, the value of the contract, the low specialization of the activities required by the public contract.

The paper describes a criminological model with which to assess the general and specific risk of infiltration by OC of public procurement in south Italy.

Gives a brief account of what has happened, what is happening and what is going to happen in the country formerly called the Soviet Union. Analyses the socio‐economic nature of the Soviet system and its evolution prior to Gorbachev′s reforms. Presents the causes for the emergence of perestroika and for the collapse of the system and the State. Discusses the reasons for the arrival of Yeltsin and his policies to the political scene. Examines the core of the current crisis and the means to resolve it. Speculates on the country′s distant future.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief answer to the following questions: in the arena for State and non-State actors, who and how may guarantee the balance between democracy, State and market? How can the citizens’ economic well-being be prioritized, in terms of national security?

Adapting both the link analysis approach and the order of Pierce’s inference stages, the author illustrates the state of the art, some economic indices and Italy’s need for countermeasures.

Starting from the notion of “social sustainability of the political decisions,” given by the author, the paper highlights the opportunity to rethink the concept of political warfare, in view of a productive fabric characterized by both a high number of small and medium-sized enterprises and the pervasiveness of mafia-type organizations. At the end, the author shares some proposal in the fields of Public Law and Social Marketing and a broader definition of the above-mentioned concept.

This study shows the link between security studies, people’s perception of grey areas and polarization of opinions and wealth, giving the reader a bottom-up input to the comprehension of the contemporary complexity.

According to the INTERPOL definition, money laundering is: “any act or attempted act to conceal or disguise the identity of illegally obtained proceeds so that they appear to have originated from legitimate sources”. Along this line, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the link amongst money laundering, mafia and food activities, in the Italian provinces.

By using annual data over the period 2010 to 2018, the author estimates balanced panel data using the instrumental variables approach. The analysis includes both fixed and random effects, as well as robustness checks.

The main findings of this paper reveal that, in most Italian provinces, money launderers are deterred by the probability of being identified. In particular, the deterrent action of police and investigative forces seems to be very effective. Moreover, the results of the empirical analysis show that mafia-type organisations and food activities are positively correlated with money laundering.

This paper aims to provide a specific study on the link between apparently legal activities (food and beverage) and money laundering; a link that has so far been analysed mainly on a theoretical level. Moreover, it provides several insights in terms of policy implications.

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the determinants of money laundering in Italy. Given the high heterogeneity in terms of economic, social and institutional characteristics, Italy is a compelling case study.

By using annual data over the period 2008 to 2013, the authors estimate a balanced panel data linear model using feasible generalized least squares. Following the main literature on the economics of crime, the authors regress the crime rate in each region-year against a set of determinants that include socio-economic, enforcement and crime-specific factors.

The authors’ findings reveal that, in most Italian regions, enforcement activities do exert significant deterrence on criminal behaviors: and a negative relationship between enforcement and money laundering can be identified only when there are high levels of enforcement efforts. Moreover, the authors find that the major determinants influencing the rate of money laundering differ between northern, central and southern regions, confirming the existence of regional dualism. In particular, the crime rate in the northern and central area is positively related to the level of corruption and the incidence of mafia-type crimes and negatively related to educational attainment, whereas in the southern regions, money laundering is positively related to the size of the gaming and gambling sector.

The present paper contributes to the extant literature on the economics of crime in several ways. First, it explicitly analyzes a specific type of financial crime, which presents the higher degree of sanctioning regime in the Italian legislation. Second, Italy offers an important country study because of the forceful presence of mafia clans and organized crime systems operating in the illegal market.

The relationships between tourist resorts and transnational crime are rarely analyzed systematically. This paper begins to fill this gap by examining how organized crime groups and individuals linked to them can take advantage of tourist resorts to commit crimes.