The Economics of Sex Work | Marginal Babble Ep.40 with Professor Stefan Adriaenssens

The global sex work industry generates an estimated $69 billion annually (worldmetrics.org, 2026) and provides income for millions of sex workers globally. In the UK alone, there are approximately 72,800 sex workers according to the English Collective of Prostitutes.   In this episode of the Marginal Babble podcast, we explore the economics of sex work, from global industry scale to how researchers estimate hidden populations. We discuss why data relating to sex work is so hard to measure, how legal status affects market size, and how internet platforms have changed safety, pricing, and regulation.   **Professor Stefan Adriaenssens:** https://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/en/person/00002299   **SEX WORK BY NUMBERS: Bridging Economics and Social Sciences to Understand the Hidden World of Commercial Sex:** Free: https://www.emerald.com/books/monograph/20949/Sex-Work-by-NumbersBridging-Economics-and-Social Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Work-Numbers-Understand-Commercial-ebook/dp/B0FV2QKM3D     **Timestamps** 00:00 Intro 00:40 Do You Make Sex Boring? 01:26 The Scale of the Sex Industry 06:08 How Do Economists Estimate Sex Work? 09:09 The Objectives of the Book (plus feelings…)         11:54 Does Sex Work Match Economic Theory? 20:31 Remuneration for Loss of Reputation 24:14 How the Internet Has Affected Sex Work 31:18 Affects of Legalisation/Criminalisation of Sex Work 36:34 Surprises in Writing the Book 38:29 Policy Recommendations 41:52 Misconceptions About Sex Industry 43:00 Where Do We Need More Research? 44:27 Final Thoughts   **Socials:** TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@marginalbabble Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marginalbabble/ X: https://x.com/marginalbabble Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/marginalbabble.bsky.social/ Website: https://marginalbabble.co.uk/