Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking ?
نویسندگان
چکیده
This paper investigates the impact of legalized prostitution on human trafficking inflows. According to economic theory, there are two opposing effects of unknown magnitude. The scale effect of legalizing prostitution leads to an expansion of the prostitution market, increasing human trafficking, while the substitution effect reduces demand for trafficked women as legal prostitutes are favored over trafficked ones. Our empirical analysis for a cross-section of up to 150 countries shows that the scale effect dominates the substitution effect. On average, legalized prostitution increases human trafficking inflows.
منابع مشابه
The Law and Economics of International Sex Slavery: Prostitution laws and trafficking for sexual exploitation
Trafficking in humans for sexual exploitation is an economic activity driven by profit motives. Laws regarding commercial sex influence the profitability of trafficking. Using cross country data we show that trafficking of persons for commercial sexual exploitation is least prevalent in countries where prostitution is illegal, most prevalent in countries where prostitution is legalized, and in ...
متن کامل, Axel Dreher and Eric Neumayer Does legalized prostitution increase human trafficking ?
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