Interesting empirics

I cannot wait to read the paper coming out of this:

Most women work 11 hours a week and … make $25-40 per hour [versus] $7-10 per hour … in the formal sector.  They are violently victimised once a month.

Prostitutes who work with pimps have higher wages and better conditions.

Supply is quite elastic [a 60% shock in demand occurred with only a 30% increase in prices], adjusting on three margins – higher labour supply by existing prostitutes, in-migration by prostitutes from other areas, and ‘temporary prostitutes’ joining the market.

Doing this research in America, where both the provision and the consumption of prostitution is illegal, is a major achievement for Levitt and Venkatesh.  Has anything equivalent ever been done in countries where the law is less restrictive?