American Economic Review Vol. 103 No. 3 2013
Do Sex Workers Respond to Disease? Evidence from the Male Market for Sex
Abstract
Sex markets play a key role in the transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV/AIDS in developing countries. While individuals should substitute away from risky sex as STI prevalence rises, female sex workers draw a premium for engaging in unprotected sex, mitigating their propensity to use condoms. We provide the first evidence of a positive premium for non-condom sex in developing country male sex markets. Testing whether this is a compensating differential for disease risk, we find that a one percentage point increase in the STI rate increases the premium 28 percent. Market forces may curb the self-limiting effect of STI epidemics.
- DOI
- 10.1257/aer.103.3.445
- Volume
- 103
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 445-450
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex