Would legalizing prostitution end human trafficking?

The scale effect of legalizing prostitution, i.e. expansion of the market, outweighs the substitution effect, where legal sex workers are favored over illegal workers. On average, countries with legalized prostitution report a greater incidence of human trafficking inflows. read more

Moreover, by erroneously equating the legal status of prostitution with different levels of law enforcement with respect to human trafficking, Akee, Bedi, et al. overlook other demand and supply effects that the legalization of prostitution may have on human trafficking. read more