Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/119397 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Economics of Security Working Paper No. 71
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
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 legalized 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, countries where prostitution is legal experience larger reported human trafficking inflows.
Subjects: 
human trafficking
prostitution
legalization
scale effect
substitution effect
global
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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