ERIC Number: EJ1015476
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-166X
EISSN: N/A
Compensated for Life: Sex Work and Disease Risk
Arunachalam, Raj; Shah, Manisha
Journal of Human Resources, v48 n2 p345-369 Spr 2013
Sex workers draw a premium for engaging in unprotected sex. We theoretically motivate a test of whether this premium represents a compensating differential for disease, thereby mitigating sex workers' propensity to use condoms. Using transaction-level data and biological STI markers from sex workers in Ecuador, we exploit within-worker variation across local disease environments. We find that locations with low disease prevalence exhibit a very low, insignificant premium for unprotected sex. A one percentage point increase in the local disease rate increases the premium for noncondom sex by 33 percent. Market forces may curb the self-limiting nature of STI epidemics. (Contains 9 footnotes, 2 figures, and 6 tables.)
Descriptors: Sexuality, Health Behavior, At Risk Persons, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Prevention, Foreign Countries, Environmental Influences, Geographic Location, Communicable Diseases, Questionnaires, Economic Factors, Individual Characteristics, Regression (Statistics)
University of Wisconsin Press. 1930 Monroe Street, Madison, WI 53711-2059. Tel: 608-263-0668; Fax: 608-263-1173; e-mail: journals@uwpress.wisc.edu; Web site: http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/journals
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Journal Articles
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Ecuador
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A