In the course of talks at universities, NGO’s, and even bookstore readings, I have often been asked the following question: “How can we end slavery without ending poverty, corruption, and social injustices against women, children, and minorities?” Good question, and many of you may be wondering the same. Fortunately, I have an answer.

As I argued in my last blog on takepart.com, understanding contemporary slavery as a business is crucial if we are to design a more effective abolitionist response. This business and economic analysis reveals many crucial pieces of information, including the immense profits generated by human exploitation as well as the business models of various modes of slavery, which can reveal vulnerable points that can and must be exploited if we are to rid the world of these crimes.

Each mode of slavery is governed by distinct manifestations of two forces – supply and demand. As an example, let’s take a look at sex trafficking, the most profitable and fastest growing component of modern-day slavery. The supply-side of this barbaric industry is driven by immense and longstanding forces relating to poverty, lawlessness, social instability, corruption, military conflict, and acute bias against female gender and minority ethnicities. Remedying these forces will require considerable long term efforts, which is why so many people ask – how can we solve slavery without solving these problems? For many forms of slavery, like trafficked sex slaves, we do not have to rely on the attenuation of these supply-side forces in order to make a significant dent in the business of slavery. Fortunately, the demand side of this industry is far more vulnerable to intervention.

The demand-side drivers of the global sex trafficking industry are:
1) male demand for commercial sex
2) slave exploiter demand to maximize profit, and
3) consumer demand for lower retail prices, or the price elasticity of demand.

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