It's Good to be Da Police!

But not so good to be a worker in the Chicago's South Side.

'Freakonomics' researcher examines Chicago's sex trade

The researchers hired trackers, typically former prostitutes themselves, to follow a sample of about 160 female sex workers and record details of each sex act they performed. Working prostitutes were paid $150 a week to participate in the two-year study.

Street prostitutes reported that about 3 percent of the sex acts they performed were "freebies" given to Chicago police officers to avoid arrest, according to a draft report of the study, which was presented to a packed session last weekend at an annual national economics conference in New Orleans.

According to the paper, full-time prostitutes made on average less than $20,000 a year. If they had a pimp, the women made a little more, even after giving up a 25 percent cut of their earnings. The women reported being beaten about once a month on average.

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