The Hooker Index
“Latvian Hookers Signal No Recovery for the Economy,” blared a recent headline on the front page of Bloomberg. The piece is about a blog post by John Hempton, who runs the popular finance blog Bronte Capital, analyzing the sex trade in the former Soviet Republic of Latvia. Hempton concludes that Europe is in for a bout of deflation. Here’s why. Sex work is a uniquely flexible market. The barriers to entry are low, to say the least. There are no contracts, leaving workers to set prices based on simple supply and demand. Latvia, where the populace is of Scandinavian descent, has apparently (how could I not know!) become the destination of choice for men from England and Ireland looking for, er, a quick pick-me-up. And, prices for recreational sex in the former Soviet republic are falling – and falling fast, as much as 2/3 in the past year. Case closed.
The analysis sadly makes sense. It’s no secret that desperate women have turned to prostitution as a way of making money for the pretty much the entirety of human history. But the way the situation facing Latvian prostitutes is presented by both writers is offensive beyond belief. Neither Bloomberg columnist Matthew Lynn or Hempton make reference to the fact that prostitution is also a uniquely abusive industry, that a large number of women in it are doing it unwillingly, many are abused by amoral pimps and that trafficking in unwilling sex slaves from Eastern Europe has exploded since the collapse of the Soviet Union almost two decades ago. Not a word. In fact, Lynn helpfully intimates that if prostitution were legalized, we might well have a very good economic indicator for central banks to track to get a snapshot of the broader economy.
Just spread your legs, ladies! The IMF and the World Bank need you!
Can we get a re-write?
About Helaine Olen
I am the voice of The Bills, a column about the intersection of money and life, at Slate. At Inc., I contribute to the Spread the Wealth personal finance column. My work on politics, economics, workplace culture and women’s issues has been published in numerous other print and on-line publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Salon, Pacific Standard, and The Los Angeles Times, where I wrote and edited the popular “Money Makeover” feature.
I'm the author of the critically acclaimed book Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry, and The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to be so Complicated, which I co-wrote with Harold Pollack.
What else? I’m a passionate bibliophile, a fan of 1970s pop music and a lover of rummage sales. I live in New York City.
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