Men’s Valuation of Temporal Proximity to Female Virginity: Evidence from Prostitutes

Abstract

© 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLCWe hypothesized that men value temporal proximity to female virginity and estimated the value of delaying a girl’s first sexual experience by analyzing 8,817 prostitutes in Indonesia. We regressed the log of the price of sex on age at first sex, current age, and their interaction term, along with covariates. An additional year’s postponement of first sex was associated with a 3.6% increase in the price of sex, when we controlled for only city-by-year fixed effects. Further controlling for the prostitute's age increased the value to 4.5%. More interestingly, a client depreciated this value over the prostitute’s age.