猫咪的蔷薇花园

什么技能可以让一个女人的时薪高达5500美元?由于对Eliot Spitzer（译注：前纽约州州长，最近因召妓丑闻辞职）的那些巨额花费百思不得其解, Allison Schrager对高级应召女郎的供求市场作了一个调查.
What skills can earn a woman ,500 an hour? Still reeling from Eliot Spitzer's surprise bouts of discretionary spending, Allison Schrager examines the supply and demand of high-end call girls ...

Eliot Spitzer的性丑闻给我们留下了许多值得思考的问题，其中有一样我始终弄不明白：高级应召女郎那令人瞠舌的价格。她要提供怎样的服务才对得起这5500美金的时薪呢？

虽然，性是一种特殊的商品，但它仍然要遵循市场供求关系的法则。去年，我在《经济学人》的经济学博客《Free Exchange》上发表了一篇文章，其中写到性交易市场如何对财富和期望值的大幅波动反应异常灵敏，并且建议可以考虑将它看作一个滞后指标。我还提到，当大多数人认为这是一项非常不受欢迎的职业时，在这个行业的高端层“它却是一项几乎不需要什么技能就能赚取丰厚收入的职业。（上帝是公平的）”

Among the many things we are left to consider in the wake of the Eliot Spitzer scandal, there is one I still can't quite get over: the staggering price of a high-end call girl. What service can anyone provide to justify up to ,500 an hour?

Although sex is a unique commodity, it must still obey market principles of supply and demand. In a post last year on Free Exchange, The Economist's economics blog, I wrote about how the prostitution market is exceptionally sensitive to large fluctuations in wealth and expectations, and so it might be considered a lagging indicator. I mentioned that while most people consider it an extremely undesirable job, on the high end "it can be quite lucrative and requires few skills (though a fair helping of unequally distributed natural endowments)."

一个名为“spairme”的网友给出评论是：“没有技术含量？显然，你没机会好好观摩一下。。。。在任何市场要想获得高额报酬，服务一定得是一流的。”“spairme”和Spitzer都激起了我的好奇心，想更多地了解这项世界上最古老的职业中所蕴含的经济学。

"Inferior skills?", commented someone under the name "spairme". "Obviously, you have not visited one...To be able to command premium pricing an [sic] any market, a service must be superior." Both spairme and Spitzer left me curious to learn more about the economics of the world's oldest profession.

买方：The demand side:

什么原因导致了高级妓女与街头流莺，甚至普通职业女性间存在着如此巨大的收入差距？我决定在一个机场的行政酒廊进行一项相当不科学的调查访问。在我与几位男士的交谈中—包括一位职业运动员和几位公司经理—我问他们为什么付大价钱给高级妓女比去11大道随便勾搭一个女人更有吸引力。他们听到这个问题时都如同受到惊吓般缩了一下肩。其中一位男士说，“因为那些人很恶心、很脏。”说这话时，他似乎对这种事厌恶得哆嗦起来。“最后的结果就是，你可能把各种各样的疾病带回家，传染给你的妻子，这会很危险。”当然，所有接受访问的人都马上澄清这些回答只是基于假设，而不限于个人亲身经历。

这使得买“春”看上去就像买贝类水产品：货物应该来自一个信誉好的供应商。与一位女士在干净、整洁的环境中幽会标志着更高的素质，并且充分降低了感染疾病的风险。

一些男士认为，基本上，这种无附加条件的交易对事业和婚姻的危害比找一个情人要小多了。那些机场行政酒廊里的男士还指出，高价能买到万无一失。但是，以这样的价钱，很难不在个人账面上露出马脚。Spitzer在高级妓女身上一年的花费超过了8万美金。这可得从银行支出了一大笔钱啊。

What explains the enormous income gap between high-end prostitutes and ordinary streetwalkers or even typical working women? I decided to conduct a rather unscientific survey of potential consumers in an airport executive lounge. In conversations with several men--a professional athlete and several business executives--I asked why it was more attractive to pay a premium than to solicit a woman on 11th Avenue, say. They all responded with groans and wincing. "That is just sick and sleazy," one man said, nearly shivering with disgust. "You could end up bringing home all sorts of diseases to your wife and it could be dangerous." Everyone hastened to clarify that these answers were based on hunches, not experience.

It seems purchasing sex is like buying shellfish: it should come from a reputable provider. Meeting a woman in a clean, well-kept environment signals higher quality and lowers the risk of an infection substantially.

Some argue that such no-strings transactions are ultimately less harmful to both career and marriage than taking a mistress. The men at the airport lounge also pointed out that the premium buys discretion. But at these prices, it is difficult to avoid a paper trail. Spitzer spent more than ,000 on high-end prostitutes in one year. That's a lot of bank withdrawals.

在Spitzer先生光顾的这个服务供应商的网页上（自丑闻后已关闭），陪护女郎按不同的钻石等级排列；级别越高价钱越贵。假设这些女郎看上去都同样漂亮，而且作出了类似的承诺，我忍不住会想，什么因素决定了她们的价格。一位同事有过为客户安排“小姐”的经验（他以前在一间名声不太好的私人证券公司工作），他解释说，更高的价钱通常意味着这个女人“多才多艺”（也就是说，愿意提供更多的服务），或者只是更受欢迎，更有经验。之前，我一直的印象就是这个工作完全不需要资历。他说，这只是女人的想法。随即马上否认他自己找过电召女郎。

综上，高价钱代表着高素质。价格太便宜反而会让想获得高级妓女的男人对商品的价值产生疑问。性服务行业则满足了男人的自恋情结（因此叫做“国王俱乐部VIP”）和他们的幻想，让他们感觉只有购买那些钻石等级高的女人才能配得上自己尊贵非凡的身份。

On the website of the service Mr Spitzer patronised (which has since been disabled), escorts were ranked with twinkly diamond ratings; higher rankings demanded a higher price. Given that the women all looked equally beautiful and delivered similar promises, I couldn't help but wonder what gave them their value. A colleague with some experience arranging escorts for clients (when he worked at a rather nefarious-sounding private-equity firm) explained that a higher price often meant that a woman was either especially talented and versatile (ie, would provide a wider range of services), or simply more popular and experienced. I had been under the impression that this was a job in which seniority was undesirable. It depends on the woman, he said, just before emphatically denying ever using a call girl himself.

As with all things, a premium price signals quality. Men who seek out high-end prostitutes may question the value of a bargain. The industry feeds their narcissism (hence the name "Emperors club VIP"), and part of the fantasy is feeling special enough to purchase that multi-diamond woman.

卖方：The supply side:

高级妓女收费高，最显而易见的原因是因为她们进行的是非法交易。如果因为卖淫被捕，她们将来在其他行业的“钱途”肯定会受到阻碍（除非有人根据相关经历写一部香艳的爆料书；但问题是，市场上对类似的书需求量有多大？）。高额报酬才能抵得上在非法行业工作的风险，也可以补偿因为卖身而惹来的骂名。

2006年出版的《政治经济学杂志》上，有一篇题为《性交易理论》的论文，经济学家Lena Edlund 和 Evelyn Korn认为在解释妓女高收入原因的背后，其实隐藏着一个关于婚姻的交易。

一个女人不可能同时兼任妓女和妻子两个职业。将这句话与事实结合来看，即婚姻是女人的一个重要收入来源，更深的含义是，卖淫的收入必须比其它职业更高，这样才能弥补放弃婚姻交易收入的机会成本。

根据国王俱乐部的网页（已关闭）所描述，他们提供的都是聪明睿智，能言善辩的绝色美女。网页上还说，其中一些还是其它高端行业的成功职业人士。虽然，最后的这个声明看上去有些可疑，但是，这些女人肯定都是魅力非凡并且足够聪明才能吸引客人的注意。与那些在街边拉客的同行不同，高级应召女郎还可以作女伴，经常陪客户去参加晚宴或者派对。因为一个既美丽又聪明的女人总有其它工作（和婚姻）的选择权，只有高薪才能让她们放弃别的机会，并且甘冒拘留，染病和背负骂名的风险

The most obvious reason why high-end prostitutes can charge so much is that they are doing something illegal. Being arrested for prostitution will certainly hinder future earnings prospects in other industries (unless one manages to write a juicy tell-all about the experience; still, how many such books can the market support?). A premium fee is justified by the risks involved in working in an illegal industry, as well as the related stigma of being paid for sex.

In the paper  "A Theory of Prostitution", published in 2006 in the Journal of Political Economy, economists Lena Edlund and Evelyn Korn suggest there is a marriage market explanation behind why prostitutes are so well-paid:

[A] woman cannot be both a prostitute and a wife. Combine this with the fact that marriage can be an important source of income for women, and it follows that prostitution must pay better than other jobs to compensate for the opportunity cost of forgone marriage market earnings.

According to the Emperor's Club (defunct) website, the women they provide not only possess exceptional beauty, but also intelligence and sophistication. Some, the company went on to say, are successful professionals in other high-profile industries. Though this last claim seems dubious, the women must be exceptionally attractive and sufficiently intelligent to hold a customer's attention. Unlike their low-end counterparts, high-end call girls are expected to supply some level of companionship, and often accompany clients to dinners or parties. Because a beautiful and intelligent woman inevitably has other job (and marriage) options, a very high wage is necessary to encourage them to forgo other opportunities, and risk arrest, disease and shame.

虽然5500美金/小时听上去是个大数字，但并不是所有的钱都归应召女郎。大部分钱都进了陪护服务公司的腰包。而且，这些女郎们必须洒大把的银子来巩固自己的价值却不会得到即时的回报。她们要在打扮方面花很多时间和金钱：昂贵的发型设计（一个发型师告诉我，他的顾客中就有几个是小姐，她们每月花在驳发和染发上的钱不少于1000美金）和定期健身。许多人还要做整型手术（特别是那些曾经的男人）和拥有一个装满名牌服饰的衣橱。另外，她们还要定期去医院检查，以免感染上了性传播疾病而不自知。

基本上，决定做一个高级妓女常常不只是因为经济的原因，而取决于一个女人对性的态度。对于许多女人来说再多的金钱都无法引诱她们去卖淫。同时，你不能光为了解构卖淫经济学而忽视了一点，许多进入这一行的女人，即使是高级的，大都曾经在她们生命中的某些时候作为受虐者，这很悲哀。经济学上的论证无法影响一个女人如何为她的身体定价。

最终，性交易市场的定价原则就像其它行业一样。性曾经是首先用来交易的商品之一。甚至在皮包公司，复杂的洗钱方案和钻石评级出现以前，它已经有价了。我回顾了自己一年前的文章，承认我的无知：高级妓女确实得有一套独特的技能。

While ,500 and hour may sound high, not all of that goes to the woman. A substantial amount goes to the escort service itself. And escorts must spend a great deal maintaining their value without immediate compensation. Much time and money is spent on grooming: hair removal, expensive hair-cuts (one stylist I spoke to claims several of his clients are escorts, who spend at least ,000 a month on extensions and colour) and regular exercise. Many women have had plastic surgery (particularly if they were once men) and maintain an expensive designer wardrobe. Frequent visits to the doctor are necessary to protect against sexually-transmitted diseases.

Ultimately, the decision to become a high-end prostitute is often not only an economic one, but is determined by a woman's attitude toward sex. For many women no amount of money would ever entice them into prostitution. You cannot deconstruct the economics of selling sex without acknowledging that, sadly, many women who enter the trade, even at the high end, have at some point in their lives been victims of abuse. Economic reasoning has little sway over how a woman values her body.

The market for sex ultimately determines a price like any other industry. Sex was one of the first goods ever traded. It commanded a price even before the days of shell companies, complex money-laundering schemes and diamond rankings. I look back on my post from a year ago and recognise my ignorance: high-end prostitutes do have a unique skill-set.

正如“spairme”提到："一个技术拙劣，又没有激情的性服务从业人员（也就是说演技）是干不长久的。。。。。并不是只要天生丽质，像海星在沙滩上那样躺着就可以了"。

As spairme noted: "An unskilled and unenthusiastic provider (ie, acting skills) is not going to last long..... It's not just about being born beautiful and laying there like a beached starfish! "


非常好的一篇文章。很简单的解释了什么是机会成本。
很喜欢最后一句话。
并不是只要天生丽质，像海星在沙滩上那样躺着就可以了。让我想起这次去美术馆。看了有一个作品是和sex 有关系的。发觉的确应该享受性。主动的，而不是被动的去对待这件事情。
一个女人应该是妻子也是婊子？
机会成本啊机会成本。