Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/322235 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
Quaderni - Working Paper DSE No. 1207
Publisher: 
Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche (DSE), Bologna
Abstract: 
We propose a unified economic model of sexual exchanges that treats both unpaid and paid sex as outcomes of individual time allocation decisions. Departing from existing literature that separates sex into marital relations or specialized markets, the model incorporates relational skills, gender norms, and labor market opportunities. It explains gender patterns in the supply and demand of paid sex and offers a rationale for declining sexual activity despite liberal norms. The framework accounts for behavioral responses to shocks, prices, and wage differentials, and can inform policy debates on gender inequality, fertility, and regulation of sex markets.
Subjects: 
Fertility
Gender norms
Human capital
Sex buyer
Sex work
Sexual exchanges
JEL: 
I10
J10
J12
J16
J22
J24
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.