Good Intentions and Unintended Evil? Clients’ Punishment in the Market for Sex Services with Voluntary and Involuntary Providers

While there is no consensus concerning the legal and moral judgment towards prostitution, there is an overwhelming agreement on the need to fight sexual slavery. The paper shows the effect of clients’ punishment in the market for commercial sex (the so called neo-abolitionism or nordic prostitution regime) as it concerns sexual slavery. As a result the theoretical analysis reveals that this effect is ambiguous and crucially depends on the size of the deterrence effect and on local properties of the market demand. Policy implications that arise are identified and discussed.