# From Sicilian mafia to Chinese "scam villages"

## TL;DR

This paper explores the geographic concentration of scams in China, inspired by mafia origin theories, and offers a new economic explanation with policy implications.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel economic framework explaining scam concentration in China, extending Gambetta's mafia theory to a new context.

## Key findings

- Scams are geographically concentrated in specific Chinese regions.
- A new economic model explains the distribution of scams.
- Policy implications for scam prevention are discussed.

## Abstract

Inspired by Gambetta's theory on the origins of the mafia in Sicily, we report a geo-concentrating phenomenon of scams in China, and propose a novel economic explanation. Our analysis has some policy implications.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1905.03108