Modelling extortion racket systems: Preliminary results

Mafias are highly powerful and deeply entrenched organised criminal groups that cause both economic and social damage. Overcoming, or at least limiting, their harmful effects is a societally beneficial objective, which renders its dynamics understanding an objective of both scientific and political interests. We propose an agent-based simulation model aimed at understanding how independent and combined effects of legal and social norm-based processes help to counter mafias. Our results show that legal processes are effective in directly countering mafias by reducing their activities and changing the behaviour of the rest of population, yet they are not able to change people's mind-set that renders the change fragile. When combined with social norm-based processes, however, people's mind-set shifts towards a culture of legality rendering the observed behaviour resilient to change.

Publication type: 
Contributo in volume
Author or Creator: 
Nardin L.G.
Andrighetto G.
Szekely A.
Conte R.
Source: 
New Frontiers in the Study of Social Phenomena, edited by Cecconi, Federico, pp. 65–80, 2016
info:cnr-pdr/source/autori:Nardin L.G.; Andrighetto G.; Szekely A.; Conte R./titolo:Modelling extortion racket systems: Preliminary results/titolo_volume:New Frontiers in the Study of Social Phenomena/curatori_volume:Cecconi, Federico/editore:/anno:2016
Date: 
2016
Resource Identifier: 
http://www.cnr.it/prodotto/i/392085
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23938-5_4
info:doi:10.1007/978-3-319-23938-5_4
http://www.scopus.com/record/display.url?eid=2-s2.0-84978245524&origin=inward
Language: 
Eng
ISTC Author: 
Giulia Andrighetto's picture
Real name: