Elections are held in nearly all countries in the contemporary world. Yet despite their aim of
allowing for peaceful transfers of power, elections held outside of consolidated democracies …

Over the last decade, organized criminal violence has reached unprecedented levels and
has caused as much violent death globally as direct armed conflict. Nonetheless, the study …

Criminal groups govern millions worldwide. Even in strong states, gangs resolve disputes
and provide security. Why do these duopolies of coercion emerge? Often, gangs fill …

We document that the spread of the Mafia in Sicily at the end of the 19th century was in part
caused by the rise of socialist Peasant Fasci organizations. In an environment with weak …

This article evaluates the effects of violence related to the operations of drug-trafficking
organizations (DTOs) on electoral competition, defined by the number of electoral …

We analyze the effects of Mafia infiltration in the legal economy. Combining information from
investigative records with panel data on firms' governance and balance sheets, we build an …

Violence and intimidation against politicians is gaining attention in research on obstacles to
political gender equality, but we still do not know whether women experience more violence …

Organized crime uses political violence to influence politics in a wide set of countries. This
paper exploits a novel dataset of attacks directed towards Italian local politicians to study …

What is the impact of collusion between members of criminal organizations and politicians
on local public finances, in contexts in which organized crime is well-rooted? This article …

Cyber-incidents threaten the confidentiality, efficiency, and integrity of digital information
systems, causing privacy risks, economic losses, and reputational damages, and exposing …