To the providers out there, what do you think would be the impact on your business if it was legalized? How would the buiness change? The rules of supply and demand would apply, wouldn't thay mean a greater increase in supply and only a slight increase in demand, or are my economics all screwed up.

I think it would lead to a large entry into the supply followed by a "weed out."  Most suddenly and profitable businesses have followed this model...railroads, telecom, PCs.  The advantage here is that TER already exists so the weed out phase would be faster, IMO.
Still there would be alot of guys who don't use TER and get scammed.  Just like now.

There would be some entrants on both sides.  The end result though would likely be slightly higher supply.  From a pricing standpoint we'd see a broadening of the market.  Most of those charging $250 today would continue to charge that, but we'd see more at the $150 and $450 range.  If incall/outcall were all decrim'd (indy, agency, brothel, massage, etc.) and kerb crawling remained illegal we'd see a fairly solid migration from street into lower cost brothels and massage, though likely about 30% of today's street business would remain.

The big impact would be franchising and/or large-scale retailing of services.

Above-ground recruiting efforts and benefits would swell the ranks of providers, and efficiencies of scale (ie. having a permanent location to work out of, and not having to travel the circuit or work out of hotel rooms) would lower prices overall.

The BIG impact would be that legalized mongering would allow it to be viewed as a business expense... huge, huge impact.

And vocational schools would never be the same...

O.

First of all, despite anything you might read here, legalization is not going to happen for at least for a long time.  We might settle, in the immediate future, for decriminalization.  What happens after that depends on how things go from there, and how both participants and non-participants deal with it.  

Supply is not likely to go that far up immediately.  I think the women most able to participate in the hobby already do, but unless it's dealt with, there will be an increase in slavery-- a different issue.  Unfortunately, there is likely to be that increase.  Any plans to eventually legalize prostitution must address that.  

/Zin

that the economy would not get any worse. I do however feel that that are more women out there than you think who would enter the business. The $$$$ are very inticing and the economic independence is something a lot of women strive for, and for that matter so do men.

As in most countries that legalize the hobby, the government would get heavily involved.

Most countries register sex workers, require regular medical exams (inspection), limit places of business to particular zones (there is usually a "home-trade" provision) and of course, collect taxes on the transactions (income taxes here in the good ole USA).

In Canada, prices first went thru the floor (over supply with moderate demand) and then regained ground to the current average of 150-250 (Canadian) per hour.  There are still some "top-shelf" providers (greater than $300CN per hour) but they are the exception rather than the rule.

It applies here, to drugs, to everything illegal.

Illegal seems to curtail supply much greater than it curtails demand.

In Nevada, it has remained legal more as a tax base for the rural counties than for the "wild west" lore.  Most residents of those counties recognize that they would have few services, if any, except for the huge tax $$$ spent by the legal houses.  As a result, Nye County (just north of LV) almost lynched a politician that suggested an end to the legal brothels.

Many providers don't like the brothels, because they are partners in the business, and dig deep into the girl's profits.  They also provide an element of safety, and cover advertising costs.  So there's my .02