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Title: Home > News & Markets > National News > Prostitution and the Escort Economy
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Published: Apr 28, 2008
Author: http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/na
Post Date: 2008-04-28 19:58:39 by tom007
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Views: 77
Comments: 3
h The Escort Economy by Duff McDonald and Miriam Datskovsky May 2008 Issue A back-of-the-pillowcase analysis of just how big the high-end call-girl business really is. * Spitzer Resigns as New York Governor * Will Spitzer's Siren Sell Her Story? * Eliot Spitzer's Stat of the Day * 'Post' Beats 'Times' on Spitzer's Exit * Not Too Late to Catch QAT * Parsing Spitzer: I'll Be Back News * Spitzer call girl sues 'Girls Gone Wild' for $10 million AP * Budget Details: Educational institutions in Albany area have projects funded ACBJ * Souvenir Sales Climb After Spitzer AP * Wicks law reforms not included in budget negotiations ACBJ * Executive director of NY-NJ Port Authority quits AP See All Related Content Sports Cubs Calculus Alfonso by Duff McDonald A back-of-the-napkin analysis of how much investors might be willing to pay for Chicago's beloved underdogs. Read More Join the Conversation 10 Comments Latest: Apr 25 2008 10:51am ET * Add a Comment * Read All Comments Start the Conversation * Add a Comment Woman Photograph by: Corbis While Eliot Spitzer will hereafter be known as Client 9, he can take comfort in the fact that he is by no means alone. About 700,000 men in the U.S. (or 0.65 percent) pay prostitutes for carnal relations each year, according to one survey. Still, the thousands of dollars Spitzer spent for what many people believe is a low-triple-digit transaction at most was eye-popping. That’s because he wasn’t tangling with your run-of-the-mill streetwalker; he was participating in the high-end, room-service-style escort economy, a slice of the industry that allows customers to order in advance, pick from a number of menus, even pay with a credit card. How large is this part of the business? After isolating the three typical escort experiences and consulting with economists and academics, Condé Nast Portfolio calculated a number. EXPERIENCE NO. 1 THE SPITZER (a.k.a. the No. 9) For the discerning gentleman (or nationally known politician) who regards privacy as paramount. Estimated portion of escort clientele: 5 percent. Escort: $3,200 ($2,700 or so, plus a $500 credit to stay in the escort’s good graces). Two hotel rooms (Club-floor rooms at the Mayflower hotel in Washington): $938 Train ticket for transporting escort to and from the meeting place (say, from New York to D.C. and back, on the local train and not the Acela): $138 “Wining and dining” (at the minibar): $50 Taxi to and from the hotel: $18 Atmosphere (a classical CD to set the mood): $14 A.T.M. fee, if you happen to be short on cash: $2 Estimated Total Cost: $4,360 EXPERIENCE NO. 2 THE PLATINUM CLUB A weekend-long encounter for the globetrotting billionaire, who will fly his escort to the rendezvous instead of making her take Amtrak. Why? Because he can. Estimated portion of escort clientele: 1 percent Escort: $4,500 Hotel room (a night at the Setai penthouse in Miami Beach, for example): $30,000 Private jet for transporting escort to and from the meeting place (a four-hour round-trip flight): $15,400 Wining and dining: $1,000 Distracting the wife with a spa weekend: $5,000 Atmosphere (a diamond necklace she’ll probably sell on eBay): $5,000 Middlemen and verification services (how an escort business checks out its clients): $3,000 Estimated Total Cost: $63,900 EXPERIENCE NO. 3 THE REGULAR V.I.P. For your average successful guy—say, the tech executive or the Wall Streeter on a business trip. You know someone who has done this. Seriously. Estimated portion of escort clientele: 94 percent Escort: $500 Internet connection and telephone service for finding and booking escorts: $40 per month Estimated Total Cost: $540 THE BOTTOM LINE The sum of the cost of each experience times its portion of escort clientele gives us the cost of the average escort experience. A.E.E. = (cost × portion)Spitzer + (cost × portion)Platinum + (cost × portion)V.I.P. A.E.E. = ($4,360 × .05) + ($63,900 × .01) + ($540 × .94) Cost of Average Escort Experience: $1,364.60 Multiply A.E.E. by the annual number of trysts1: Total escort economy = A.E.E. x annual trysts = $1,364.60 x 80,367 Value of Total U.S. Escort Economy: $109,668,808 NOTE: 1The National Health and Social Life Survey found that men who frequent prostitutes average 2.3 visits each. Combining 2007 census data with these findings yields a total of 1.61 million tricks. Based on academics’ assumptions, 5 percent of these are with escorts and not streetwalkers or brothel sex workers, resulting in 80,367 escort trysts. Sources: Taggert Brooks, economist, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse; Kristen Monaco, economist, California State University–Long Beach; Russ Alan Prince, president of Prince & Associates; Sudhir Venkatesh, sociology professor, Columbia University.
Top 5 Scandal: Your Ad Here Novelty Eliot Spitzer T-shirt by Liz Gunnison As Spitzer falls, a cottage industry rises. Read More RELATED CONTENT From Portfolio
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.
#1. To: tom007 (#0)
Boy, that worked out well! One would wonder if ol No. 9 was due a refund... And if it would do any good to request one... Talk about an excuse to go public again!!
A Sticky situation all around.
#3. To: tom007 (#2)
Alla round .... "what?"
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestEXPERIENCE NO. 1 THE SPITZER (a.k.a. the No. 9) For the discerning gentleman (or nationally known politician) who regards privacy as paramount.
#2. To: richard9151 (#1)
Boy, that worked out well! One would wonder if ol No. 9 was due a refund...
Replies to Comment # 2. A Sticky situation all around.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 2.