The role of prostitution markets in domestic violence during Covid-19

The role of prostitution markets in domestic violence during Covid-19: Domestic violence appears to have surged during the Covid-19 crisis in almost all countries. This column argues that dwindling prostitution markets during the lockdown might be partly responsible for the surge. Analysing the effects of the one-sided criminalisation of prostitution introduced in Sweden in 1999, it finds that the law reduced street prostitution but increased domestic violence against women outside the prostitution market. This evidence suggests that the freeze of sex markets caused by the Covid-19 crisis might have contributed to the observed spike in domestic violence.