Estimating the Prostitution Population in the Netherlands and Belgium: A Capture-Recapture Application to Online Data

Evidence-based risk-prevention policies for people involved in prostitution require that reliable population estimates are built. This study proposes a methodological framework and novel data source for measuring their population in regions where the internet plays a predominant role in the industry. We derive single registration capture-recapture population estimates using the Zelterman approach. The resulting estimates for the Netherlands and Belgium are lower than previous rough estimates. We find that relative to the overall population of the two countries, the proportion of sex workers are roughly identical despite differing legal environments

De ongekende samenleving: schattingen en inzichten over irreguliere migranten en economische schaduwactiviteiten

Inleiding en probleemstelling: Overheden in landen met een hoge economische ontwikkeling beschikken doorgaans over een uitgebreid systeem om hun economie en bevolking te monitoren. Door de uitgebreidheid en de effectiviteit van deze systemen wordt er meestal van uitgegaan dat de gegevens van overheden een adequaat beeld schetsen van de werksituatie, het economische en het sociale leven ‘zoals ze zijn’. Niets is minder waar. De beschikbare informatie lijdt structureel onder het euvel dat ze voorbijgaat aan een samenleving die weliswaar reëel bestaat, maar die grotendeels verborgen blijft voor het oog van officiële waarneming en registratie. Deze ongekende samenleving geeft haar geheimen slechts mondjesmaat prijs. Tussen de gedocumenteerde werkelijkheid en het ware sociaaleconomische en werkzame leven van de inwoners van Vlaanderen gaapt een kloof. Over de oorzaken, de grootte en de veranderingen van deze kloof kan gedebatteerd worden ‑ en dat wordt daadwerkelijk gedaan – maar dat ze bestaat en significant is, wordt zelfs door oppervlakkige waarneming bevestigd. Waar hebben we het dan over, wanneer we spreken over een kloof tussen het werkelijke land en datgene dat gedocumenteerd is? Een drietal illustraties zal duidelijk maken waar het probleem zich situeert. ..

Sex, price and preferences: accounting for unsafe sexual practices in prostitution markets

Unsafe sexual practices are persistent in prostitution interactions: one in four contacts can be called unsafe. The determinants of this are still matter for debate. We account for the roles played by clients’ preferences and the hypothetical price premium of unsafe sexual practices with the help of a large dataset of clients’ self-reported commercial sexual transactions in Belgium and The Netherlands. Almost 25,000 reports were collected, representing the whole gamut of prostitution market segments. The first set of explanations consists of an analysis of the price-fixing elements of paid sex. With the help of the so-called hedonic pricing method we test for the existence of a price incentive for unsafe sex. In accordance with the results from studies in some prostitution markets in the developing world, the study replicates a significant wage penalty for condom use of an estimated 7.2 per cent, confirmed in both multilevel and fixed-effects regressions. The second part of the analysis reconstructs the demand side basis of this wage penalty: the consistent preference of clients of prostitution for unsafe sex. This study is the first to document empirically clients’ preference for intercourse without a condom, with the help of a multilevel ordinal regression.status: publishe

Can informal economic activities be explained by social and institutional factors? A comparative analysis

Empirical literature on informal activities often builds on macro-economic country estimates, which impedes testing behavioural hypotheses. The European Social Survey, documenting self-reported tax evasion in 26 countries, allows to test individual and institutional factors simultaneously. We model the effect of institutional and social capital factors affecting informal transactions. We predict that informality is fostered by social relations and trust, and curbed by institutional trust. Regulation and taxation fuel informal transactions, while effective enforcement inhibits them. These predictions are simultaneously tested with individual level data from the ESS, complemented with country level data on regulation, taxation levels and enforcement. Multilevel binary and multinomial logit, fixed-effect, MCMC and AGQ regressions confirm the predictions regarding social capital, trust and tax burden. Contrary to much prior research, we find weak and inconsistent effects of regulation and enforcement, which may also be due to the limited variation of our country sample.status: publishe

Export intensity and firm performance for family brewers

nrpages: 39status: publishe

Modes of production in home maintenance: accounting for the choice between formality, off the books and self-provisioning

Households depend on the existence of a home, and therefore, maintenance plays an important social and economic role. Formal outsourcing is often overestimated here and alternative modes, such as informal outsourcing and do-it-yourself (DIY), are overlooked. This paper estimates and accounts for the choice of one mode of production in Flemish households. First, the different modes of production are quantified according to two different methods. Further, an explanation of the choice made is constructed. The complexity of maintenance work has an impact as well as the dimensions of social and cultural capital. Factors such as dexterity, occupational acquaintance with maintenance work, social trust and social contacts play a role. Finally, a model of a sequence of decisions is tested. This ramification mechanism shows that the primary choice is formal commissioning or not, inspired by technical complexity. The second choice between off-the-books outsourcing and DIY is influenced by the capital resources of the households.status: publishe

Institutions, trust and relations: a comparative analysis explaining informal economic activities

nrpages: 23status: publishe

Industry segment effects and firm effects on firm performance in single industry firms

nrpages: 28status: publishe

Choices in Threefold. Home maintenance and improvement between household production, informal outsourcing and the formal economy

status: publishe

'Bad jobs': a case study of toilet attendants

Purpose Contribute to the knowledge of precarious and low-quality jobs with the study of toilet attendants, an ideal typical case of low-wage manual service workers that are excluded from secure wages, decent working conditions, and employment protection. Design and methodology An extensive survey with standardized questionnaires (n=107) and in-depth interview(n=10) of toilet attendants in Belgian towns, mostly Brussels and Ghent. Results are compared to the work quality of low-skilled workers, and the within-group position of necessity workers is analysed. Findings Toilet attendants definitely occupy ‘bad jobs’, measured by the higher prevalence of informal and false self-employed statuses, more intense work-life conflicts and verbal aggression from clients, and a lower job satisfaction. In all these respects they perform worse than other low-skilled workers. Concurrently there is a strong within-group divide between necessity workers and those who see the job as an opportunity. Despite a similar job content, necessity workers less often earn a decent wage, suffer more from customer aggression, lack social support and pleasure from work. Mechanisms related to self-selection and the absence of intrinsic rewards explain these in-group differences. Value This contribution indicates firstly that job insecurity spills over into poor working conditions, work-life conflicts and customer aggression. Furthermore, it documents that jobs are not necessarily bad in themselves, but become problematic when taken up by people with too few choices and too pressing socio-economic needs. Problems of sub-standard jobs are not merely job problems but problems of workers in a certain position.status: publishe