To most people, prostitution would seem to have obvious economic dimensions in that it involves the exchange of money for the sale of one's body to another. There is a great diversity of statutory provisions on the subject. There is also discretion in how these are enforced in different places at different times.

The simplest application of economics to prostitution is to look at the determination of prices for the sex sold via the usage of supply-and-demand analysis. The existence of supply-and-demand schedules requires the presence of perfect competition on both sides of the market for sex. Any person could offer himself as a sexual commodity trader, hence the supply could potentially be the population of the world. Some individuals will be specialized traders in ...

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