The economists Scott Cunningham and Todd Kendall discovered this by examining advertisements in the “adult services” section on Craigslist, the online ad service. (Craigslist has since closed down this section.)
Using postings in Seattle and Philadelphia as a control group – these cities did not have almost 50,000 visitors descending on them for a few days – the economists estimated that advertisements selling sexual services increased by 29-44 per cent in Minneapolis during the Republican visit and 47-77 per cent in Denver when the Democrats arrived. I’m not going to make jokes about oversexed politicians, largely because the majority of visitors appear to have been journalists.
So, if a convention comes to town, expect an increase in the demand for prostitutes... unless we're talking about an economics convention (from the Economist Jokes website (found here).
"This is a true story:
"Back in the mid-1970s, I attended an ASSA/AEA convention in Dallas. During the third day of the convention, one of the bellhops at the convention hotel asked me who the people attending the convention were and what we did for a living. "We're economists," I replied. "Why do you ask?" "I don't know..... no women, no drugs, just booze, booze, booze.""
John Palmer