Markets in Everything

Sorry, Tyler, but I can't see how I can call this anything else! This is the ancillary industry edition

I also use verification companies, which assist escorts in verification of clients. These companies do the verification of the client and put them in a database so that when the client wants to meet with a girl for the first time, he doesn’t have to go through the verification process again. For a fee, I can call in and they will tell me if the client has a history of giving the girls problems, where he works, and his full name.

From the Freakonomics blog.

I got to the above from a link on a piece by Sudhir Venkatesh on the same blog.

Postscript: Oh, this is just ridiculous

Lawyers have one common fantasy, according to high-end sex workers: they want their lady-friend to play the role of “opposing counsel,” by visiting them in the hotel room to strike a plea bargain. I’ll leave the rest to the imagination.

From a follow on post by Sudhir Venkatesh.

And I am sure this is true

If you want to stay in the game, you better keep a police man happy. You always give a freebie now and then, because most women get caught now and then, especially if you’re on the streets. And you always want to tell him he’s the biggest man you’ve ever seen. Men ain’t that hard to figure out.