Law Enforcement and Illegal Trafficking of Waste: Evidence from Italy

The illegal trafficking of waste has become one of the fastest growing areas of crime and one of the most lucrative industries among organized criminal activities, which has infiltrated both the Italian urban and hazardous waste management cycle. In this study, we aim to investigate the determinants of the organized activities for the illegal trafficking of waste (art. 260 of the Environmental Code) using waste, economic, and enforcement data in a panel analysis over the period 2002-2013. Our main findings reveal that in most of the Italian regions enforcement activities do not exert significant deterrence on criminal behaviors; a negative relationship between enforcement and illegal trafficking of waste can be identified only for very high levels of enforcement efforts. Moreover, we find that the major determinants of the illegal trafficking of waste rate differ between northern-central and southern regions, confirming the existence of a regional dualism. In particular, while in the North-Centre area the crime rate is positively related to level of education and negatively to the adoption of environmentally sound policies, in southern regions the organized activities for the illegal trafficking are negatively related to the education attainment and positively to the endowment of waste management plants.