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Markets: Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?

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  • Benjamin Edelman

Abstract

This paper studies the adult online entertainment industry, particularly the consumption side of the market. In particular, it focuses on the demographics and consumption patterns of those who subscribe to adult entertainment websites. On the surface, this business would seem to face a number of obstacles. Regulatory and legal barriers have already been mentioned. In addition, those charging for access to adult entertainment face competition from similar content available without a fee. In the context of adult entertainment, free access offers consumers an extra benefit: online payments tend to create records documenting the fact of a customer's purchase; consumers of free content may feel more confident that their purchases will remain confidential. More broadly, measured levels of religiosity in American are high. On the other hand, social critics often argue that the rise of Internet pornography is contributing to a coarsening of American culture. Do consumption patterns of online adult entertainment reveal two separate Americas? Or is the consumption of online adult entertainment widespread, regardless of legal barriers, potential for embarrassment, and even religious conviction?

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Edelman, 2009. "Markets: Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 209-220, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:23:y:2009:i:1:p:209-20
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.23.1.209
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    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.23.1.209
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Who buys online porn?
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2009-05-29 20:42:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Manudeep Bhuller & Tarjei Havnes & Edwin Leuven & Magne Mogstad, 2013. "Broadband Internet: An Information Superhighway to Sex Crime?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(4), pages 1237-1266.
    2. Chen, Daniel L. & Yeh, Susan, 2014. "The construction of morals," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 84-105.
    3. repec:cup:judgdm:v:5:y:2010:i:2:p:138-143 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Jason Chan & Anindya Ghose, 2012. "Internet's Dirty Secret: Assessing the Impact of Online Intermediaries on the Outbreak of Sexually Transmitted Diseases," Working Papers 12-07, NET Institute, revised Sep 2012.
    5. Avi Goldfarb & Ryan C. McDevitt & Sampsa Samila & Brian S. Silverman, 2015. "The Effect of Social Interaction on Economic Transactions: Evidence from Changes in Two Retail Formats," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(12), pages 2963-2981, December.
    6. Phil Hubbard, 2011. "World Cities of Sex," Chapters, in: Ben Derudder & Michael Hoyler & Peter J. Taylor & Frank Witlox (ed.), International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, chapter 26, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Sebastian Lobe & Christian Walkshäusl, 2016. "Vice versus virtue investing around the world," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 303-344, March.
    8. Hoffman, Mitchell & Morgan, John, 2015. "Who's naughty? Who's nice? Experiments on whether pro-social workers are selected out of cutthroat business environments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 173-187.
    9. Gradwohl, Ronen & Smorodinsky, Rann, 2017. "Perception games and privacy," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 293-308.
    10. Jochen Lüdering, 2018. "Standing and ‘survival’ in the adult film industry," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(16), pages 1812-1823, April.
    11. Berggren, Niclas & Ljunge, Martin, 2017. "Does Religion Make You Sick? Evidence of a Negative Relationship between Religious Background and Health," Working Paper Series 1173, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    12. Deepak Malhotra, 2010. "(When) are religious people nicer? Religious salience and the ``Sunday effect'' on pro-social behavior," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 5(2), pages 138-143, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • L88 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Government Policy

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    1. Economic Logic blog

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