The Economics of Sex Work

Abstract

This thesis includes two chapters focusing on the economics of sex work. Particularly, the first chapter studies the effect of the sex buyer law in Northern Ireland on the United Kingdom's online sex market. Whereas, the second chapter analyses the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Irish sex market (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). For both chapters, we collect data from online platforms for commercial sex in the UK and Ireland from 2010 to 2021. In the first chapter, we find that the sex workers in Northern Ireland increased their activities outside the country, in the Republic of Ireland, as the result of the sex buyer law. This suggests the market does not shrink, but rather moves to a different location where sex work is legal. We also find that this effect remains over time. In the second chapter, we focus on the two national lockdowns imposed by both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland at the same time. We find that sex work continued to operate, but at a lower frequency, despite lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of reviewed transactions dropped during lockdowns but bounced back after the restrictions were eased. Fees received by sex workers, however, increased in the second lockdown. We also explore how the pandemic affects sex workers from different ethnic groups, since the pandemic was reported to have increased stigma and prejudice against Asian sex workers. While there is an existing gap between Asian sex workers and White sex workers, we find no evidence that the pandemic has affected fees for Asian sex workers. However, fees for other sex workers increased, implying sex clients may be moving away from Asian sex workers.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Alessia Isopi (Supervisor) & Peter Backus (Supervisor)