Sex with prostitutes is getting cheaper

IN RECENT years the price of sex has fallen, according to analysis by The Economist. We have analysed 190,000 profiles of sex workers on an international review site. (Since it is active in America, where prostitution and its facilitation are illegal, it was not willing to be identified for this article.) One reason for the falling price of the hourly rate of a prostitute is the downturn that followed the 2007-08 financial crisis. Technology and large-scale migration also bring prices down.

In addition to price data each profile we analysed includes customers’ reviews of the worker’s physical characteristics and the services they offer. Further number-crunching revealed that appearance matters a great deal. The customers who reported encounters to the website clearly value the stereotypical features of Western beauty: women they describe as slim but not scrawny, or as having long blonde hair or full breasts, can charge the highest hourly rates. Hair that is bleached too unconvincingly to be described as blonde attracts a lower premium, but is still more marketable than any other colour. See our full article for more analysis.