The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution

Edited by Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah

Oxford Handbooks

The first comprehensive economic analysis of prostitution
Contains new findings in the areas of the determination of sex worker prices, sexual assault and sex workers, bargaining, and STD transmission in sex work
Examines the newfound role of technology as it pertains to prostitution through discussions of internet-mediated sex markets, the effect of technology on supply and demand, and the results of client reviews on the internet

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution

Edited by Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah

Description

Prostitution bears the unique title of being both the "world's oldest profession" and one of the least understood occupations. Unlike most of the crime and family literature, prostitution appears to have all the features of traditional markets: prices, supply and demand considerations, variety in the organizational structure, and policy relevance. Despite this, economists have largely ignored prostitution in their research and writings. This has been changing, however, over the last twenty years as greater access to data has enabled economists to build better theories and gain a better understanding of the organization of sex market.

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution fills the gap in our understanding. It brings together many of the top researchers in the field who explain how the prostitution markets are organized across space and time, the role of technology in shaping labor supply and demand, the intersection of prostitution with trafficking, and the optimal use of law enforcement. What makes the material unique is its explicit focus on economics as the primary methodology for organizing our understanding of prostitution. The Handbook brings to scholars' attention for the first time a collection of original writings on prostitution that provides an overview of what is known and what is not known in this area. Researchers with an interest in underground markets, labor economics, risky behaviors, marriage, and gender will find the book's contents illuminating and path breaking.

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution

Edited by Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah

Oxford Handbooks

I. INTRODUCTION

1. Introduction
Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah

II. SUPPLY AND DEMAND

2. Examining the Role of Client Reviews and Reputation within Online Prostitution
Scott Cunningham and Todd D. Kendall

3. Economic Theories and Empirics on the Sex Market
Handie Peng

4. Sexual and Communication Networks of Internet-Mediated Prostitution
Luis E. C. Rocha, Fredrik Liljeros, Petter Holme

5. Examining the Economics of Prostitution using Online Data
Thomas J. Holt, Kristie R. Blevins, and Sarah Fitzgerald

6. Stigma and Risky Behaviors Among Clients of Prostitutes
Marina Della Giusta, Maria Laura Di Tommaso, and Sarah L. Jewell

7. Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Legal Status on Versatility and Efficiency in Prostitution Markets
Samuel Cameron

III. PROSTITUTE BEHAVIOR IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

8. Transactional Sex in Malawi
Sarah Baird and Berk Özler

9. Income, Income Shocks, and Transactional Sex
Katherine LoPiccalo, Jonathan Robinson, and Ethan Yeh

10. Economics of Sex Work in Bangladesh
Asadul Islam and Russell Smyth

11. The Details are in the Fineprint: Sex Work, Sex Workers, Definitional Complications of Identity
Rohini Sahni and V. Kalyan Shankar

IV. MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH MEN

12. The Economics of Male Sex Work
Trevon D. Logan

13. Male Sex Workers: HIV Risk and Behavioral Economics
Omar Galárraga and Sandra G. Sosa-Rubí

V. LAW AND POLICY

14. Bargaining, Coercion, and Entry in Prostitution Markets: Implications for Prostitution Law
Samuel Lee and Petra Persson

15. Prostitution Policy
G. Immordino and F.F. Russo

16. A Method for Determining the Size of the Underground Cash Economy for Commercial Sex in Seven US Cities
Bilal Khan, Mitch Downey, Meredith Dank, and Kirk Dombrowski

VI. HISTORY OF PROSTITUTION LAW

17. Nevada's Regulated Brothels
Barbara G. Brents

18. Canadian Prostitution Law: History and Market Impacts
Lauren Jones

19. Alexandre Frondizi and Simon Porcher

VII. EXTERNALITIES (STDS & SEXUAL EXPLOITATION)

20. Demographic Change, Prostitution, and Sexually Transmitted Infection Rates in China
Avraham Ebenstein and Ethan J. Sharygin

21. The Economics of Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation
Niklas Jakobsson and Andreas Kotsadam

22. HIV/AIDS and Commercial Sex Work in the Developing World
Pedro de Araujo

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution

Edited by Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah

Oxford Handbooks

Author Information

Scott Cunningham is an Associate Professor of Economics at Baylor University. His main research focuses on the organization of illicit and illegal markets, drug policy, prostitution, and risky sexual behavior. He has published in the Journal of Urban Economics and Economic Inquiry.

Manisha Shah is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at UCLA. She is a development economist whose primary research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of applied microeconomics, health, and development. Her research has appeared in journals like the Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, American Economic Journal, and the Journal of Human Resources.

Contributors:

Pedro de Araujo
Sarah Baird
Kristie R. Blevins
Barbara G. Brents
Samuel Cameron
Scott Cunningham
Meredith Dank
Marina Della Giusta
Maria Laura Di Tommaso
Kirk Dombrowski
Mitch Downey
Avraham Ebenstein
Sarah Fitzgerald
Alexandre Frondizi
Omar Galárraga
Petter Holme
Thomas J. Holt
G. Immordino
Asadul Islam
Niklas Jakobsson
Sarah L. Jewell
Lauren Jones
Todd D. Kendall
Bilal Khan
Andreas Kotsadam
Samuel Lee
Fredrik Liljeros
Trevon D. Logan
Katherine LoPiccalo
Berk Özler
Handie Peng
Petra Persson
Simon Porcher
Jonathan Robinson
Luis E. C. Rocha
F.F. Russo
Rohini Sahni
Manisha Shah
V. Kalyan Shankar
Ethan J. Sharygin
Russell Smyth
Sandra G. Sosa-Rubí
Ethan Yeh

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution

Edited by Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah

Oxford Handbooks

Reviews and Awards

"This book, edited by Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah, is part of the Oxford Handbook Series... It explores recent economic research about prostitution and sex... The chapters include descriptive, historical, and institutional chapters but mostly âeconomic modelâ type papers, such as the type that would show up in an applied economics journal." -- D. C. Colander (Middlebury College), Choice Reviews Vol 55.