Two concepts followed by discussion.
The first is basic supply and demand. If supply is high relative to demand, the price drops. If demand is high relative to supply, the price rises.
The second is "elasticity of demand." That is, for some things demand doesn't change a lot despite changes in price. Home heating oil is a good example.
You can tell items with high elasticity of demand because their price doesn't decline much in response to a down economy; and their price can rise rapidly in response to an economic surge.
Providing is one such activity. What drives this is an interrelated complex of psychosocial phenomena I will barely touch upon. But the bottom line is that, in spite of a down economy, prices charged overall have remained about the same over that time; indicating there is high elasticity of demand.
One thing that effects this is the phenomenon of the regular client. To some degree, a regular client has an attachment to the provider. (It could simply be that he likes her as a person -- it doesn't have to be anything greater than that.)
The regular client will often have one session with his preferred provider in preference to two sessions with an unknown but less expensive provider. Looking at my own expenditures over the past 6 months; 50% of all hobby money has gone to one provider. Clearly, I like her, so if my budget were to drop by as much as half it is quite likely the funds I provide her would be unaffected. (Though it would affect other providers -- but they have their own regulars so it would even out.)
Either way, this creates the effect of high elasticity of demand for the services of providers by providing a reservoir of demand that would prevent a price drop.
Also, keep in mind that things that adversely affect carpenters might boost the income of lawyers; and that a large segment of the population directly or indirectly employed in industries that also have high elasticity of demand such as medicine and entertainment; or are nearly economically immune, such as government.
This also creates a reservoir of economically unaffected demand.
Meanwhile, even the harshest of economic climates doesn't impoverish those 35,000 men in the country with a net worth exceeding $20M. (I use $20M because that is what $1M in 1916 would be worth in today's money.) This, again, provides a reservoir of demand.
So regulars, people with stable employment, and highly wealthy individuals create a reservoir of demand that, in effect, makes the pricing or providers act as though demand is relatively inelastic. (But not ALL providers, as I describe below.)
Meanwhile, entry into the field is restricted; creating a supply that is not quickly flexible.
There are legal impediments that reserve the field to a relative handful of women who are willing to accomodate the risk.
There is massive social disapproval from both the left (those who think all providers are abuse victims of their clients) and the right (those who villify providers as the lowest of the low). Too many providers have to hide what they do from their families or suffer ostracism.
Because of the visual nature of men; there is also a minimum threshold of attractiveness.
Likewise, to be a successful provider, a woman has to be a lot smarter than the average bear. Among women that smart, there are very often other economically rewarding options that compete with providing as a career choice.
Finally, women aren't designed by nature to want to mate with men they find unattractive. (And I have heard a rumor that many clients aren't Brad Pitt.) Try putting yourself in the woman's shoes and imagine what it's like. It isn't as easy as they make it look, that's for sure.
So supply cannot simply increase easily to match demand. This means that as demand increases, rather than supply matching, price will rise.
Some other factors to consider.
While many women TRY to enter the market during bad economic times -- that is the worst time to try to enter because of factors mentioned above. Many women may post ads, but not very many are successful at the level of a highly-rated escort on TER. If I have $X, I am more likely to spend it on someone who is well-established than a newbie with an ad on Backpage.
By definition, half of escorts are below-median in performance. Same thing with doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs. And if you do an analysis of performance ratings in reviews; you will quickly find they follow a bell-shaped curve. It is a minority of listed providers who consistently have high performance ratings.
Just plain being damned good at what you do, no matter the profession, is a hedge against economic hardship. People who care about quality will choose to put their money where they know it is well-spent. It doesn't matter if we are talking about an electrician or a provider.
So this, again, creates a circumstance in which highly-rated providers are going to have a buffer against economic hardship.
You can verify all of the above just by looking at rates overall of providers with average performance scores in the 9-10 range. Have they dropped in the past two years? Nope. SOME have individually, and SOME have risen. But overall -- they have stayed the same.
