Scott Cunningham and Todd Kendall have two papers on prostitution, which discuss among other things how sex is sold on the internet:
“Prostitution, Technology and the Law: New Data and Directions” in Handbook on Family Law and Economics, Edward Elgar, Forthcoming 2010.
“Sex for Sale: Online Commerce in the World’s Oldest Profession in Crime Online: Correlates, Causes and Controls, ed. Tom Holt, Carolina Academic Press, Forthcoming 2010.
Along with sites that offer sex for sale, there's been a growth in sites that offer customer reviews. E.g. PunterNet, a site that reviews British prostitutes (but is on a California computer) became briefly famous when a British politician announced that she would ask California's governator to shut it down: Terminate degrading site - Harman "Harriet Harman says she has asked California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to shut down a website containing reviews of prostitutes."
Review websites are pretty common in some parts of Asia. Photos of the service-givers are also posted online, together with price, so that information asymmetry is reduced.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a great fan of sites that review escorts, I feel it is open to create fake reviews both good and bad. It distorts the whole market with potentially London Escorts offering discounts to punters to post good reviews etc. Just visit long established escort directories
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