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Laws and Stigma: the Case of Prostitution

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Abstract

We study the opinions on prostitution that emerged from the World Value Survey. We show that individuals tends to justify prostitution more in countries where it is legal or regulated and less in countries where it is prohibited, even after controlling for religious, cultural and sociological factors. To overcome the endogeneity of the policy to the opinions, we propose an instrumental variable strategy, instrumenting prostitution policy with legal origins. At least for the case of prostitution, policies seem to affect opinions.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni Immordino & Francesco Flaviano Russo, 2015. "Laws and Stigma: the Case of Prostitution," CSEF Working Papers 388, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:sef:csefwp:388
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    1. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Nenova, Tatiana & Shleifer, Andrei, 2003. "Who Owns the Media?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(2), pages 341-381, October.
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    7. Immordino, G. & Russo, F.F., 2015. "Regulating prostitution: A health risk approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 14-31.
    8. Kotsadam, Andreas & Jakobsson, Niklas, 2011. "Do laws affect attitudes? An assessment of the Norwegian prostitution law using longitudinal data," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 103-115, June.
    9. Marina Giusta & Maria Tommaso & Steinar Strøm, 2009. "Who is watching? The market for prostitution services," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(2), pages 501-516, April.
    10. Casey B. Mulligan & Andrei Shleifer, 2005. "The Extent of the Market and the Supply of Regulation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1445-1473.
    11. Niklas Jakobsson & Andreas Kotsadam, 2011. "Gender Equity and Prostitution: An Investigation of Attitudes in Norway and Sweden," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 31-58, January.
    12. Andreas Kotsadam & Niklas Jakobsson, 2014. "Shame on you, John! Laws, stigmatization, and the demand for sex," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 393-404, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Riccardo Ciacci, 2023. "On the economic determinants of prostitution: marriage compensation and unilateral divorce in U.S. states," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 941-1017, September.
    2. Perrotta Berlin, Maria & Spagnolo, Giancarlo & Immordino, Giovanni & F. Russo, Francesco, 2019. "Retraction of: "Prostitution and Violence: Evidence from Sweden"," SITE Working Paper Series 52, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics, revised 27 Jun 2023.
    3. Davis, Lewis S. & Mavisakalyan, Astghik, 2024. "Individualism and the legal status of prostitution," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 714-732.
    4. Sofia Jonsson, 2023. "Does criminalizing the purchase of sex reduce sex-buying? Evidence from a European survey on prostitution," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 91-115, August.
    5. Seo-Young Cho, 2016. "Liberal coercion? Prostitution, human trafficking and policy," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 321-348, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Prostitution; Stigma; Law; Gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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