Mafia-style toughness deterred ordinary Sicilians from entrepreneurial careers
Evidence
- This argument has momentous consequences for legitimate business. If protectors become tougher, then even the butcher and the vaccaro may risk their lives and, in spite of their unexceptional professions, must to some extent be ready to do so. This goes some way toward explaining the unwillingness of most ordinary human beings to undertake an entrepreneurial career in Sicily. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 799
Categorization
- XREF: Extends the Gambetta private-protection model the reader is testing against The Godfather: the cost of the protectors’ escalation falls on legitimate business too, a crowding-out mechanic not in the novel.