I believe economics can explain quite a few things, such as the folllowing excerpt contends (compliments of a handout from high school teacher Mr. Peter Mehlbach):
"I'm sorry, Sir, but I disagree with your statement that prostitution symbolizes a moral failure on the part of society. Whores are a necessary evil. It is precisely the increase in the middle class demand for whores that has helped swell their numbers in London. If the demand for sexual companionship was not there, the women would go back to their hovels in the countryside or return to the gutters of the slums. This is simply an issue of economics." -Ian Malcome, Member of Parliament, House of Commons, 1840.