Objective
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that criminal activities generate nearly 4% of global GDP, with organized crime, tax evasion, and corruption accounting for most of it. To enjoy these illicit gains, criminals must convert them into deployable assets within the legal economy, creating substantial demand for money laundering—the transformation of criminal proceeds into apparently legitimate funds. A global industry supplies laundering services while eluding enforcement, moving $800 billion–$2 trillion annually. Fighting money laundering is essential yet extraordinarily difficult.
Despite its scale and relevance, money laundering is virtually absent from economics. The main obstacle is the lack of reliable data to test and refine conceptual frameworks. This project will establish the economics of money laundering as a new field in applied economics. Building research partnerships with Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), I will unearth previously unused data and develop and test new models to place money laundering at the research frontier of several applied economics fields.
I develop a new framework in which Suspicious Transaction Reports—the cornerstone of anti-money laundering intelligence and a rich, confidential, but previously unused data source—reflect an equilibrium between (1) demand for money laundering, driven by criminal activity; (2) the supply of laundering services, driven by intermediaries connecting illicit and legal economies; and (3) enforcement, shaped by the incentives and capabilities of designated reporting entities.
The agenda spans the full research-to-policy arc through three core projects—on demand, supply, and enforcement—anchored in an innovative partnership with the Italian FIU. Two projects on trade-based money laundering (the dominant channel in developing countries) and on the regulation of crypto-assets (the newest technology) extend the agenda to the geographic and technological frontiers of money laundering.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology social issues corruption
- social sciences sociology governance taxation
- social sciences law criminology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
WC2A 2AE London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.