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The Office of National Statistics in the U.K. states how sex work brings in billions of dollars a year to the British economy. "The prostitution trade in the United States is estimated to generate $14 billion a year". The city within the United States that procures the largest revenue from underground sex workers is Atlanta. In 2007, according to a study commissioned by the Justice Department, Atlanta was bringing in on average $290 million to the economy, with Miami in second place at $235 million. With this being said, there are economic models to study how this illegal activity is able to operate with such a high yearly revenue. There is discussion about the legalization of prostitution which would affect the economic models that it operates with currently.

Economic Models of Prostitution
There are two types of economic models that affect prostitute's wages, lifestyles and location. One model involves a "pimp" whereas the other does not.

Pimp Model
The biggest component of the pimp model is the fact that there is another human being in charge of prostitution operations. The pimp holds control over the prostitutes. There are different types of relationships between pimp and prostitute: love, force, extortion. The commonality of these relationships is that the pimp is still in charge. Once recruited, pimps must establish a sense of power over the women in more ways than one. They are the ones determining how much money (if any) the women receive. A lot of pimps in fact withhold monetary compensation from prostitutes so that they can continue to manipulate their hours and wages. They are in these cases compensated with housing, food, condoms, etc... This model has its own benefits even though the costs are so high. Pimps so-called "care" for their prostitutes by providing safety measures and protection from the law. The pimp model also produces higher earnings based on the listed rewards that the women receive from their pimps. This model operates in small scale as pimps need to find prostitutes and have enough resources to manage the business as well as the employees .The psychological affects of working for a pimp has its own set of consequences which each "employee" must consider and handle. The pimp model relies on costs that pimps must infer including purchasing condoms, taking safety measures, supplying housing, transportation, etc... These are all components that explain the higher price that is charged by the prostitutes in this model as well as the expected higher earnings (explicit or implicit) that they receive. The pimp model is able to operate despite the law because pimps are able to form informal partnerships with police officers, hotel managers, phone operators and more. This system depends on cooperation between various parties to prevent market failure.

Non Pimp Model
The non pimp model suggests independent sex workers who make individualistic decisions on day to day operations. This model is harder to report upon and leads to many more speculation about whether this market operates efficiently in any economy. Renegades must solicit clients off the streets and are much more likely to be put in dangerous situations as well as to be arrested compared to the other model. Employees in this model risk the possibility of arrest, assault, sexual/non-sexual diseases, mental illness and others. These factors are much more commonly occurring when a pimp is not involved. Health concerns are prevalent in both models, however, this model suffers more physical abuse and legal endangerment whereas the pimp model suffers from more psychological damage. Prostitutes can illicit drug or alcoholic payment instead of monetary compensation, whereas in the pimp model, everything but cash is strictly prohibited. Female prostitutes in this model are vulnerable to corrupt police who are willing to turn a blind eye to their work in return for free sexual acts. Prostitutes receive threats from police officers in this model much more frequently than when a pimp is responsible for each employee's safety.

Under Procuring: See also: Section 3. Economics

Under Medical Situation:

Amongst concerns of sexually transmitted diseases, prostitutes face other sorts of medical concerns. The violence that prostitutes face could include physical and psychological abuse from their pimps, johns, drug dealers or even police officers. Under Illicit Uses:

remove(which always involves extortion) where the extortionist threatens to reveal information about a victim or their family members that is potentially embarrassing, socially damaging, or incriminating unless a demand for money, property, or services is met. The subject add (or victim) may be manipulated into or (may) voluntarily solicit the use of prostitution which is then later used to extort money or for profit otherwise. The film The Godfather Part II famously depicts the role of Senator Geary who is implicated in the use of prostitution in order to gain his compliance on political issues.

Prostitution is usually somehow involved with the drug market. There is a high prevalence between drug abuse and prostitution especially in cities known for their illicit activities.

See also: Drugs and prostitution Switch order of laws and attitudes. Laws should come first as a summary, and then we can put opinions as to how people feel about it.