Mafia Origins, Land Distribution, and Crop Diversification

This paper explores the historical roots of land inequality in Sicily and its relationship with the Mafia presence. Using earthquake intensity as an instrumental variable to address endogeneity concerns, we find that greater land inequality in the past leads to a higher incidence of Mafia activity. Moreover, we show that contemporaneous socio-economic conditions did not drive the effect but reflected persistent historical inequality patterns. Our results suggest that policies to reduce land inequality and promote land reform could have effectively curbed organized crime in Eastern Sicily and other areas with a similar history of inequality.