Ricerc@Sapienza

The shape of the Environmental Kuznets Curve, which relates the trade-offs between environmental goods and production changes to income, has been the focus of much study in the literature. A similar kind of relationship may or may not exist between environmental crime and income, but this has not yet been empirically investigated. Using a unique panel dataset spanning 110 Italian provinces from 2010 to 2015, we empirically investigate the shape of an Environmental Crime Kuznets Curve while controlling for demographic, judicial, and socio-economic heterogeneity.

Environmental crimes, if they are perceived as victimless, have not received the appropriate governmental response and have been frequently ranked low on the law enforcement priority list, punished with lenient or no administrative sanctions. This has contributed to an underestimation of the immediate consequences of environmental crimes, which can go undetected for lengthy periods. On the contrary, the mismanagement and illegal trafficking of waste in the Land of Fires, an area in the Campania region in the South of Italy, has been experienced as a 'victimful' crime.