{"id":4095,"date":"2008-01-18T00:24:19","date_gmt":"2008-01-18T07:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2008\/01\/18\/interesting-study-of-prostitution-in-chicago\/"},"modified":"2008-01-18T00:24:19","modified_gmt":"2008-01-18T07:44:07","slug":"interesting-study-of-prostitution-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=4095","title":{"rendered":"Interesting study of prostitution in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

Economists Steven Levitt (of Freakonomics <\/em>fame) and Sudhir Venkatesh have published a study of the economics of street and brothel prostitution in Chicago<\/a>. They used a variety of data sources, including paying prostitutes a fee to allow “embedded data trackers” (who were themselves mostly ex-prostitutes) to follow them through their working days ((Or nights, I suppose.)) and keep records of all transactions. As far as I can tell, only female prostitutes were studied. ((You can read a draft of their paper here, in pdf form<\/a>.))<\/p>\n

Their conclusion:<\/p>\n

This study provides a rare window into the lives of those who are most marginalized in society. Surprising to an outsider are the fluidity with which these women move in and out of prostitution and other work, their willingness to absorb enormous risk for a small pecuniary reward, and the blurred lines between good and evil, where police extort sex and pimps pay efficiency wages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also from the study (in context, it’s clear that when they write “prostitution” or “street prostitution” they mean to include both streetwalkers and brothel workers, but not more high-end prostitutes such as escorts):<\/p>\n

The transaction-level data we collected suggests that street prostitution yields an average wage of $27 per hour. Given the relatively limited hours that active prostitutes work, this generates less than $20,000 annually for a women working year round in prostitution. While the wage of a prostitute is four times greater than the non-prostitution earnings these women report (approximately $7 per hour), there are tremendous risks associated with life as a prostitute. According to our estimates, a woman working as a prostitute would expect an annual average of a dozen incidents of violence and 300 instances of unprotected sex.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Other findings — some expected, some surprising.<\/p>\n