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.

中文翻译：

---

洗钱、食品活动和黑手党：来自意大利各省的证据

目的

根据国际刑警组织的定义，洗钱是：“任何行为或企图隐藏或掩饰非法所得收益的身份，使其看似来自合法来源的行为”。沿着这条线，本文的目的是调查意大利各省洗钱、黑手党和食品活动之间的联系。

设计/方法/方法

通过使用 2010 年至 2018 年期间的年度数据，作者使用工具变量方法估计平衡面板数据。该分析包括固定效应和随机效应，以及稳健性检验。

发现

本文的主要发现表明，在大多数意大利省份，洗钱者被识别的可能性所吓倒。尤其是警察和调查部队的威慑行动似乎非常有效。此外，实证分析结果表明，黑手党型组织和食品活动与洗钱呈正相关。

原创性/价值

本文旨在对明显合法的活动（食品和饮料）与洗钱之间的联系进行具体研究；迄今为止主要在理论层面分析的一个环节。此外，它在政策影响方面提供了一些见解。