Economic booms and risky sexual behavior: Evidence from Zambian copper mining cities

Abstract

Existing studies suggest that individual and household level economic shocks affect the demand for and supply of risky sex. However, little evidence exists on the effects of an aggregate shock on equilibrium risky sexual behavior. This paper examines the effects of the early twenty-first century copper boom on risky sexual behavior in Zambian copper mining cities. The results indicate that the copper boom substantially reduced rates of transactional sex and multiple partnerships in copper mining cities. These effects were partly concentrated among young adults and copper boom induced in-migration to mining cities appears to have contributed to these reductions.JEL classification: I18, J10, O12, O40

The local socioeconomic effects of gold mining: Evidence from Ghana

“…While all these effects can have household-level implications, fewer analyses have, thus far, analyzed the geographic dispersion of such impacts. A recent literature on the local and subnational effects of natural resources contributes to the understanding of such effects (for example Rud 2013, 2015;Axbard et al, 2016;Benshaul-Tolonen 2018 Wilson 2012). A growing number of papers explore the mining industry, in particular, see Aragón, Chuhan-Pole, and Land (2015) for an overview.…”

The World’s Oldest Profession? Employment-Age Profiles from the Transactional Sex Market

“…They found that earnings decline with age, both among transactional sex workers and among women employed outside of transactional sex. Wilson (2012) provided a simple analysis of group means by age without including any controls. In a study of 248 transactional sex workers in The Gambia, Pickering et al (1992) found that younger transactional sex workers (e.g., under age 25) charged higher prices on average than did older transactional sex workers, yet was not able to examine how the likelihood of employment in transactional sex work varied with age.…”

Health Shocks and Household Welfare in Zambia: An Assessment of Changing Risk

“…Zambia experienced a sharp increase in per capita income from mid‐2002 (Figure ) and a fall in poverty levels (CSO, ). Apart from Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, copper production and earnings increased beginning late 2002, bolstered by the sharp rise in world copper prices (Wilson, ). On the micro level, as we shall see in the next section, average incomes increased.…”

“…On the micro level, as we shall see in the next section, average incomes increased. Increases in employment and wealth as well as reduction in risky sexual behaviours for households located in mining towns have been documented (Wilson, ). This suggests that the copper boom may have changed household resilience to idiosyncratic shocks of one section of the population relative to others, for example, by changing relative incomes, risk behaviour and employment/occupations—likely related to likelihood of injury.…”