Some of this was new to me:

An in-depth look at the legal brothel regime reveals

that while the system is preferable, it is stunted by unequal

bargaining power between the prostitutes and brothel owners owing to

collusive arrangements with local sheriffs. But since a regulated

brothel system, with all its faults, provides a safer environment for

prostitutes and their customers than prohibition while maintaining a

sufficient barrier between the prostitution activity and the community

to ameliorate citizen complaints, I ask why this system is not in use

in other jurisdictions, specifically Las Vegas, Nevada. Using

public-choice analysis, the paper concludes that lower employment costs

for casino and hotel owners due to kick backs received by hotel

employees from prostitutes and their customers, the interests of rural

governments to maximize revenues from tourism generated by brothels,

and the interest of Las Vegas legislators to portray the town as

family-friendly maintains the status quo of illegality.

Here is much more, hat tip to www.bookforum.com. The author is Ashlie Warnick, to whom I once taught macroeconomics.

Addendum: Here’s something else on the same general topic, call it a new installment in Markets for Everything, hat tip to Freakonomics blog.