August 2017
ABSTRACT
Sex workers supply sex acts out of bare necessity for survival. They are often stigmatised of their profession and worry about being known to others. Effectiveness of registration policies that intend to reduce harms of sexually transmitted infections may be reduced by such stigma. To understand the responses of sex workers to a registration policy, we develop a model of sex worker supply with stigma under a simple labour supply framework. We show that sex workers with lower asset levels decide to register and they supply more sex acts. In the extension of the base model, we consider effects of other earning opportunity, STD infection risks and their treatment possibilities, and presence of different client types (occasional and regular). Results of the base model are shown to be maintained.
Keywords: sex work, stigma, registration, impacts
JEL classification: I12, I15, I18
PDF available at http://hdl.handle.net/2344/00049465
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