懂经济学的应招女郎

"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."

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。”

Both spairme and Spitzer left me curious to learn more about the economics of the world\'s oldest profession.

“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。

The demand side:

买方：

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.

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。

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.

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.

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 $80,000 on high-end prostitutes in one year. That\'s a lot of bank withdrawals.

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。