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Naughty tourism
I could use a more explicit three-letter word in the post title but I fear the software censors employed by our federal government will again block this web site from its bureaucratic readers. On this topic, I was quite taken by this passage:
"Ingrid," I commented, "If you really think she [the Haitian woman who was propositioned for money] needs a choice then I suggest you give her one. Why don't you offer to pay her thirty dollars not to come to my hotel room, but to go back to her son and cigarette stand?"
That is from Naked in Haiti: A...Morality Tale About Tourists, Prostitutes and Politicians, by Dan King. This book has received very little notice but it's a more interesting look at human commodification than anything you'll find coming out of Harvard or Princeton. I can only say that the author really seems to know what he is talking about, if you get my drift. This work would not have been approved at university institutional review boards. It's also one of the best books on "life on the ground" in Haiti, at least provided you can tolerate the author's numerous salacious yet nonetheless totally anti-erotic descriptions of his activities.
The author goes to Haiti, of course, not for the art, but because he wants to buy from women who are not (otherwise) "selling." Of course that means that the level of poverty is quite desperate, as in Cuba, where the same phenomenon is common. And often the women sell to benefit their children or parents, not themselves; surely some percentage of them are disgusted by what they end up doing.
If you're wondering about my point of view on the whole question, I am sufficiently Paretian that I don't find the exchange aspect of the relationship, or the passing of money, objectionable per se. (Assuming, of course, that neither age nor coercion is a concern, and often both are.) But it is still better, on the buying side, not to do it. Once you are aware of the kind of human stories behind the other side of the market, I would think it is hard to maintain an unflagging interest in the proceedings at hand. Nor do I think it would improve what happens in your life next. Yes the transaction does benefit the seller in many cases, but apply the Modigliani-Miller theorem and rebundle your action into a different blend of charity and erotic self-satisfaction, all toward The Greater Good.
Or so I think. If you offer your thoughts, please be polite in your rhetoric.
I thank an anonymous MR reader for the pointer to the book.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on February 22, 2008 at 07:04 AM in Travels | Permalink
Comments
Perhaps this is an even more crass way of looking at an already crass topic, but I hope there will be at least some talk about genetics/fitness/gene drift in the discussion to follow. Maybe more knowledgeable folks can chime in.
The gist of this is: those with wealth owe some of their wealth to good genes. In general they selectively reproduce with other folks with good genes. This can lead to inequitable distributions of good genes. Where we can increase equity with little cost its usually good to do so. Those in desperate situation often have bad genes to blame in part. Where a person has a choice between children with good genes and bad genes, and they can have children with good genes at low cost this is generally a decent outcome.
Services provided can lead to gene transfers.
I realize this is contentious, but intergenerational effects should form part of this discussion.
Posted by: invitedGuest at Feb 22, 2008 3:41:05 AM
Oh, Tyler. You have incredible tact. That's all I came to say.
Posted by: Steven at Feb 22, 2008 3:42:42 AM
@invitedGuest,
First, Institutions are probably more important than genes in explaining wealth (especially across countries) . If Bill Gates were born in a small tribe on a pacific island, he probably never would have saved enough money to pay for the services of the cheapest wh.re in a Port-au-Prince bordello (and i guess they are not very expensive). Second, genes are pretty well distributed across the world (unlike good institutions): if you travel a little, you'll see that the average kid in the street in Bombay is in no way less smart than the ones on Main Street(they are less educated, which makes a big difference). Third, even if you believe in the genes story, the ones that end up in the bordellos are probably not the most selected ones (tie this to the second argument and you'll find that the transfer might be negative).
Posted by: darwin at Feb 22, 2008 5:58:10 AM
Of course it's hard (and perhaps unfair) to judge from one passage, but from the passage quoted it sounds a bit like the author has a similar misunderstanding of collective action problems to that that McMegan was displaying the other day in regard to taxes.
Posted by: Matt at Feb 22, 2008 7:03:00 AM
Isn't this just the invisible (or not so invisible) hand working its magic? It can't possibly be exploitation.
Posted by: meter at Feb 22, 2008 7:12:01 AM
Notice the section "What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?" on the Amazon page. 29% buy "Haiti from Revolution to the Kidmapping of a President". OK. These are Haiti scholars. However, 23% buy "The Hedonist: World Sex Guide - Single Male Erotic Vacations in Rio, Costa Rica, Thailand, Carribean and much more" and 16% buy Doughy Pantload's "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning." I guess when you live in your mother's basement you don't get out much and have to read about sex. 21% buy the book we're talking about.
Posted by: mm at Feb 22, 2008 8:00:18 AM
Very interesting. Tyler, are you confident that the narrative is accurate and unembellished? I did some perusing in the Amazon "inside the book" feature and was rather amazed to land on a section where Ingrid the thin, blond 30-something Norwegian social worker appears to be auctioning off her own sexual services to the highest bidder within days of calling our hero "scum" for being a sex tourist. Good reading to be sure, but I don't know if I'm buying it. In the end, is Ingrid verifiable?
Posted by: Andy at Feb 22, 2008 9:02:15 AM
meter,
You won't find a pure vision of the invisible hand at work unless you have free markets with rights protections. Do you have that in Haiti?
Considering the Haitian government has limited this woman's prospects, she has chosen to engage in what trade she can.
There is always a moral question about whether one should engage in trade with people who have their trading options limited by a coercive force. However, if one's options are limited to selling only one commodity, it may still be better than not being able to sell any.
Posted by: liberty at Feb 22, 2008 9:07:22 AM
I saw similar stuff in Indonesia. In the poor village next to the gold mine I was working in, every girl (even those who had never "sold" before) had a price. It was usually too low. I informed a few of them that the Aussie and South African mine workers who were their customers would willingly pay a lot more. They thought they were gouging at $10 per encounter, and were dumbfounded that they could charge ten times more, easily.
OTOH, I had long and convoluted conversations with hookers in Bali as to why I didn't want to purchase their services - and it wasn't because I preferred boys (their first guess) or couldn't afford it (their second.)
I was gallant enough to pay them the $15 (plus drinks) to merely spend a couple of hours at a bar with me, since they were the only locals who were interested in actually having a meaningful conversation (and their English was beter than the average Indonesian's).
Posted by: bartman at Feb 22, 2008 11:42:29 AM
Can someone enlighten me? How does Modigliani-Miller apply here? What is debt and what is equity in this context?
Posted by: Archit Shah at Feb 22, 2008 11:58:47 AM
Tyler,
I had the same question as Archit Shah.
Posted by: Sam at Feb 22, 2008 12:14:39 PM
IMO, sex tourists are taking advantage of their buying power. There are certainly gains from trade (sex for money) but the costs to women who sell their bodies are perhaps understated: If any of those SAME women were in the US, they would have a far higher price because they have better opportunities. The reason they are cheap in Haiti is that they have few options. For that, you can often blame the corrupt government, but (keeping with the aid meme of a few postings ago) also blame the rich countries these tourists come from. It's not an accident that many Cubans hated the Americans and the US government (and *their* government) for their semi-colonial status before Castro. In the big picture of geopolitics and exploitation of people by their governments, the ones who suffer the most are the poor -- and these "willing" prostitutes are among them.
So no -- this action is not just morally indefensible, but also NOT Pareto -- the market is distorted by.... government failure.
Posted by: David Zetland at Feb 22, 2008 12:46:15 PM
Modigliani-Miller: Regardless of how profits are financed, in the absence of transaction costs they will be equivalent in value (it doesn't matter whether by debt or equity). Or at the very least, present value will be equivalent.
Tyler is making an analogy with "utility" for "profits" and "self-satisfaction" for "otherly satisfaction". You will still have the same level of utility if you go to the virtual market rather than the, ahem, "human capital market" (if you will).
Make substitutes like a firm. Transaction costs are low and taxes are not an issue here.
Posted by: Alex at Feb 22, 2008 1:20:59 PM
I agree with darwin that genes are pretty much irrelevant. Warren Buffett always thanked good luck for being born and raised in an environment where he could apply his skills. In my travels (which includes Haiti), I have found that people are pretty much the same everywhere (except that they have to work harder the poorer they are). By the way, I saw zero evidence of people selling sex in Haiti - though I'm sure that, like anywhere, you can find it if you look for it.
Posted by: asparagus at Feb 22, 2008 1:56:36 PM
""If you really think she [the Haitian woman who was propositioned for money] needs a choice then I suggest you give her one. Why don't you offer to pay her thirty dollars not to come to my hotel room, but to go back to her son and cigarette stand?""
I liked that comment. Great excerpt.
Posted by: Stephen M (Ethesis) at Feb 22, 2008 2:18:39 PM
The buyer might do the seller more good by giving her the money for free. And he has not done that.
On the other hand, there are many millions of people in the world who have not given that woman the money for free.
He would appear to have done her more of a favour than they did. Certainly in her opinion.
liberty, surely the real question is whether the workers are in the trade voluntarily.
The difference between sex workers and sex slaves is the same as the difference between plantation workers and plantation slaves.
It is not wrong to pay someone to chop sugar cane, however unpleasant they find the work, if they do it voluntarily. Same for any other job.
Posted by: ad at Feb 22, 2008 3:22:49 PM
If you have $25 to spare and want to give someone in the developing world a helping hand, try Kiva.org P2P microloans -- also endorsed by Oprah and Bill Clinton, for what it's worth. Not exploitation and not even charity.
Posted by: at Feb 22, 2008 3:29:39 PM
Posted by: sdf at Mar 31, 2008 2:04:46 AM
