2007 estimates valued the underground commercial sex economy between $39.9 and $290 million across eight major US cities. The study, led by Meredith Dank of the Urban Institute, found the market decreased since 2003 in all but two cities. It is based on interviews with pimps, traffickers, sex workers, child pornographers, and law enforcement.
Use Cases
- Modeling the scale of illicit economies based on interview-derived estimates
- Analyzing temporal trends in underground markets based on reported changes from 2003 to 2007
- Informing policy suggestions to combat commercial sex trafficking based on stakeholder interviews
Strengths
- Provides specific monetary estimates ($39.9M to $290M) for the underground economy in 2007
- Includes data from eight major US cities, allowing for comparative analysis
- Based on primary interviews with multiple key stakeholder groups
Limitations
- Row count and column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
- Data is from 2007 and may not reflect current market conditions
- License is closed, restricting redistribution and commercial use
Provenance
- Source
- Urban Institute
- Collection Method
- Interviews with pimps, traffickers, sex workers, child pornographers, and law enforcement
- Time Range
- 2003 to 2007
- Geography
- Eight major US cities