War, Migration and the Origins of the Thai Sex Industry

Abel Brodeur, Warn Nuarpear Lekfuangfu () and Yanos Zylberberg

No 170007, Working Papers from Canadian Centre for Health Economics

Abstract: This paper analyzes the determinants behind the spatial distribution of the sex industry in Thailand. We relate the development of the sex industry to an early temporary demand shock, i.e., U.S. military presence during the Vietnam War. Comparing the surroundings of Thai military bases used by the U.S. army to districts close to unused Thai bases, we find that there are currently 5 times more commercial sex workers in districts near former U.S. bases. The development of the sex industry is also explained by a high price elasticity of supply due to female migration from regions affected by an agricultural crisis. We then quantify the contribution of the sex industry's geographic distribution on the HIV outbreak. We show that the clustering of sex workers, because of non-linearities in HIV propagation, induces high transmission rates and thus more infections. Last, we conclude by documenting benefits to concentration, e.g., when designing infection control.

Keywords: persistence; industry location; sex industry; HIV/AIDS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I28 J46 J47 N15 O17 O18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2017-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-lma and nep-sea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published Online, July 2017

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.canadiancentreforhealtheconomics.ca/wp ... 07/Brodeur-et-al.pdf First version, 2017 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: War, Migration and the Origins of the Thai Sex Industry (2018)
Working Paper: War, migration and the origins of the Thai sex industry (2017)
Working Paper: War, migration and the origins of the Thai sex industry (2017)
Working Paper: War, Migration and the Origins of the Thai Sex Industry (2017)
Working Paper: War, Migration and the Origins of the Thai Sex Industry (2017)
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