Crime, collective action and development

Starting from a definition of criminal activity for economic purposes broader than the criminological concept of economic crime, and from an assessment of its empirical importance, the article considers: 1. the relationship between criminal behaviour and economic behaviour, on the hypothesis that criminal activity can in large part be viewed as a component of the broader category of economic activity; 2. the negative effects of crime on the performance of markets and economic systems; The basic hypothesis is that when the social damage caused by crime is assessed, and consequently when the suitability and extent of punitive action is evaluated, the costs/benefits analysis must be extended to include the structural repercussions of crime on collective action and on the supply of public goods. This signifies that a substantial part of the harmful effects of crime affects the long-term competitiveness of local areas or systems, in particular by acting on the so-called non-material production factors, such as human capital, social capital and entrepreneurship. This consequence is particularly serious where the organized crime is able to exert control over a given territory and influence its patterns of development.