70
The Stripper Index: Decoding the Economic Signals of Sex Work - Business Review at Berkeley
(businessreview.studentorg.berkeley.edu)
this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
70 points (100.0% liked)
Mildly Interesting
20372 readers
345 users here now
This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.
This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?
Just post some stuff and don't spam.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Reminds me of that joke statistic - economists have predicted 28 of the last 5 recessions.
Like, it's fun to talk about "The Stripper Index" because it feels naughty. But is there anything that differentiates it from the Amusement Park Index or the Ice Cream Index? It's all discretionary spending, and presumably should all point in the same direction. Add to this that (1) sex work is taboo - and therefore may be more likely to be influenced by any number of things, like religious or social media trends, and (2) that much of sex work occurs in black or grey markets, where reported earnings are dubious at best, and I really doubt that this is a significantly better economic indicator than the tools actual economists already use.
The "Big Mac" Index is only used for purchasing power parity.
Strippers not prostitutes.
Did you read your own article? It defines the Stripper Index as including all forms of sexual labour.
I mean, if you'd stop to think for a moment, I'd think the stripper index does have some credence to it beyond the others exactly because of the things you cited...
Sex work is taboo, so the people who seek it are going to be the people who ostensibly "need" it. Most people can take or leave a theme park visit. People addicted to tits aren't going to give it up so easily. So... the very reasons you question it are exactly why it is a stronger market indicator.
Entirely possible. I said I'm skeptical that it is better than standard models, not that I'm sure. But, in the absence of other evidence, I'm inclined to believe the economists who actually understand economics, rather than some rando on Twitter saying "called it!" - stripper or not.
Isn't the very article about economists taking a closer look at the general sex worker index more than merely saying someone called it?