The Value of Connections: Evidence from the Italian-American Mafia

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mastrobuoni, Giovanni
• 署名单位: Collegio Carlo Alberto; University of Essex
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12234
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: F256-F288
• 关键词: NETWORKS; ORGANIZATION; strength; isonymy; crime; price

摘要

This study uses declassified data on US mafia members of the 1950s and 1960s to estimate the criminal network effect on their economic status. I measure economic status exploiting detailed information about their place of residence. Housing values are reconstructed using current deflated transactions data. I deal with non-random sampling of mobsters modelling investigations on connections as Markov chains. Reverse causality between economic status and the gangster's position in the network is solved exploiting exogenous exposure to pre-immigration connections. A standard deviation increase in closeness centrality increases economic status by between one-quarter and three-quarters of a standard deviation.