Money laundering, food activities and mafia: evidences from the Italian provinces

Purpose - 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. Design/methodology/approach - 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. Findings - 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. Originality/value - 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.