Don’t Decriminalize Sex Work. Legalize and Regulate It.

As a believer in free markets, I don’t instinctively support greater regulation. But as the author of a book titled “An Economist Walks Into a Brothel,” I make an exception for sex work.

A market for a good or service requires regulation when there is scope for exploitation or negative externalities, borne by the rest of economy or society, that sellers don’t account for. The market for vice meets both those conditions. And yet, even as more vices become more mainstream — see, e.g., gambling and marijuana — the market remains underregulated.