Maria Berlin, Stockholm School of Economics
Maria Berlin, Assistant Professor at Stockholm School of Economics
International Spillovers from Prostitution Regulation: The "Nordic Model" and Sex Tourism
March 13, 12.15–13.15 EOJ 276/277, or join on Zoom
Abstract:
We investigate the causal effect of the asymmetric criminalization of prostitution on sex tourism. We exploit legal reforms in four countries that switched from systems where prostitution was legal (Norway, Ireland, Canada), or where only buying sex was legal (France), to the “Nordic model” where only buying is criminalized. Using a difference-in-differences approach on data from Google trends and tourism statistics, we estimate the impact of the reforms on tourism flows to neighboring countries and popular sex tourism destinations. We find significant effects for countries where prostitution was legal, but not for France where selling sex was prohibited.