Banning the purchase of prostitution increases rape: evidence from Sweden

Abstract

Este estudio analiza el efecto del modelo nórdico de prostitución sobre las violaciones sexuales. Encuentra que dicho modelo aumenta las violaciones. Dicho efecto parece estar justificado por cambios en la demanda de prostitución y no en la oferta.

In this paper I exploit IV techniques to study the effect of banning the purchase of prostitution on rape using Swedish regional data from 1997 to 2014. There is a recent economic literature reporting evidence on how rape and prostitution behave as substitutable crime activities. This relationship suggests that prostitution regulation could affect rape. In addition, sex tourism is a growing phenomenon: prostitutes' customers travel to countries where prostitution is tolerated to buy sex there. This paper exploits exogenous within and across regions variation in access to sex tourism to assess the impact of banning the purchase of prostitution on rape. I find that this regulation increases rape on impact. In particular, this regulation caused 712 rapes from 1999 to 2014. Moreover, my findings show that this regulation also changes the composition of rapes committed: increasing completed and outdoor rapes. This empirical evidence suggests that the increment in rapes is due to a shift of the demand of prostitution, while I find no evidence supporting that such an increment is supply driven.