Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/23210 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 04-2
Publisher: 
University of California, Department of Economics, Davis, CA
Abstract: 
Italy makes for a very interesting case study of the impact of social variables on economic performance. Across its provinces, differences in social and cultural attitudes seem associated to large differences in economic development. We analyze the importance of some social variables on industrialization and on employment creation across 95 Italian provinces during the period 1951-1991. On one hand we find little evidence that civic involvement (Social Capital) was associated with industrial and economic development. On the other hand we find strong evidence that organized crime, measured as high murder rates, was negatively correlated with industrial and economic development. We use measures of murder rates in the distant past to suggest that the correlation captures, at least in part, a stable and possibly causal link between organized crime and lack of employment growth.
Subjects: 
Industrial Development
Regional Productivity
Italian Provinces
Civic Spirit
Murder Rates
JEL: 
O52
Z13
R3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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