Mafia doesn't live here anymore: Antimafia policies and housing prices

Abstract

It is well known that the value of a house depends both on the physical characteristics and on some features of the neighborhood in which it is located. If so, organized-crime activities can significantly affect urban real estate values. Antimafia policies, in turn, can be intended as a tool to influence those external features. This paper compares the effects on real estate values of the two main antimafia policies implemented in Italy since the 1990s at the municipal level. While we do not find any significant effect of dismissal policies on house prices, we find a statistically significant effect of reassignment policies depending on the specific destination of confiscated property.