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Notes -
Yes.
Prostitution is entirely illegal under state law in 48 of the US's 50 states. (Nevada has devolved to its less populated counties (not including Las Vegas) the ability to permit brothels. Maine punishes only the buyer of sex, not the seller.)
I think the workaround for escorts is generally that you are not paying for the sex, you are paying them to keep you company, and it is hard for the state to prove if any sex takes place and if so if it was part of a transaction.
Also, rich people's vices do not have the social costs of poor people's vices, generally, and therefore are more tolerated. If some banker wants to do cocaine, that is mostly a victimless crime -- he is very unlikely to stab a guy to steal his wallet to pay for his next fix.
Lower class prostitution definitely has some externalities. A prostitute who receives her customers in her flat or walks the street of some neighborhood will definitely affect the quality of living of her neighbors even before you add pimps and organized crime. With high-end prostitution, these things are simply not a concern -- if the john is renting a fancy hotel suite, then the hotel will gladly deal with all the inconveniences their fornication imposes on the neighborhood.
Also, if we start prosecuting every sexual relation which was mediated by the expenditure of material goods, half the country would be in jail. There are probably cases of some guy getting laid despite owning only the clothes on his back, but as a general rule being poor will decrease your SMV. I am not sure if anyone has done a RCT on this, but if taking your date out for some fries salvaged from the McDonalds garbage bin resulted in as much sex as treating her to a three-course menu, half of the demand for fine dining would probably go away.
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