Harvey Silverglate over at Forbes shares some interesting thoughts on this week's Craigslist kerfuffle. His piece concerns an unintended consequence of the web service voluntarily removing its adult ads: the risk of making the sex trade even riskier. But his conjecture seemed a bit incomplete to me. After all, if we're going to theorise unintended consequences, why are we taking the relevant market for granted? It seems to me, if consumers are internalising an increased cost to transact–and suppliers are suffering an inhibited demand from the danger–some former johns might look to alternatives. And some former pros might indulge them.
I'm not saying sex clubs or peep shows are perfect alternatives or anything. But they're certainly attractive substitutes: they share many of the benefits of prostitution like human contact and individualised service. And they're a service rather than a good. And if enough of that demand spills over, the relevant market would react: it'd dilate in response to the pattern. Yesterday's pros would end up becoming today's proprietors.
And they might just be opening a store near you!
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