Do strip clubs help economic growth?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Do strip clubs help economic growth?

[opebo]

Yes, obviously. 

I would imagine that they would not be so successful if prostitution were legalized, however, as they really offer almost nothing.

[John Dibble]

Yes and no. Yes in that it provides jobs, and strippers pay for goods just like everyone else. No, in that if they concentrate in an area along with other adult service industry type businesses the crime of all types in the area tends to increase as well, doing damage to the local economy.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The red light district in Minneapolis brings lot and lots of money to the city, and hiring more cops to patrol it just creates more jobs. No one except intolerant prudes (very rare in Minneapolis) would argue that the red light district is a bad thing.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's an entertainment industry, so it does nothing to help material well being.  It does provide a Dionysian outlet for our Apollonian culture, but it probably would be better for all concerned (except the owners of strip clubs) if our society were such that people weren't interested in strip clubs because they could express their Dionysian tendencies in less expensive ways.

[patrick1]

It's an entertainment industry, so it does nothing to help material well being.  It does provide a Dionysian outlet for our Apollonian culture, but it probably would be better for all concerned (except the owners of strip clubs) if our society were such that people weren't interested in strip clubs because they could express their Dionysian tendencies in less expensive ways.

Ernest, you reading Nietzsche or something?

To answer the question posed:  No, I dont think it really spurs growth at all.  Strip clubs are more of a re-distribution of income. 

[John Dibble]

The red light district in Minneapolis brings lot and lots of money to the city, and hiring more cops to patrol it just creates more jobs. No one except intolerant prudes (very rare in Minneapolis) would argue that the red light district is a bad thing.

Is it safe to walk out at night in the red light district there? Or, more to the point, hows the crime rate in the red light district as compared to other areas of the city?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Ernest, you reading Nietzsche or something?

Heinlein actually, tho I am aware of its source in Nietzsche.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The red light district in Minneapolis brings lot and lots of money to the city, and hiring more cops to patrol it just creates more jobs. No one except intolerant prudes (very rare in Minneapolis) would argue that the red light district is a bad thing.

Is it safe to walk out at night in the red light district there? Or, more to the point, hows the crime rate in the red light district as compared to other areas of the city?

The red light district itself is actually pretty safe since it's very well lit and heavily patrolled by police. I walk there during night all the time and have never had any trouble, the only thing associated with crime at all was some guy begging me for a few bucks so he could visit one of the pizza parlors in the area (I gave him $2).

The neighborhoods in the area surrounding it on the other hand are fairly high crime. However the area has always been high crime, and Minneapolis zoned the red light district (which they call the "adult entertainment area") into that part of the city for exactly that reason.

[angus]

Do strip clubs help economic growth?

No.  Economic growth is roughly the ratio of this year's GDP to last year's GDP.  A strip club employs people with would otherwise either be employed elsewhere or unemployed.  It also collects money which would either be spent elsewhere or saved.  The strip club, like Wal-Mart, libraries, porn shops, and television stations, does not create capital, and therefore it does not contribute to GDP.  It merely reshuffles extant capital.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Do strip clubs help economic growth?

No.  Economic growth is roughly the ratio of this year's GDP to last year's GDP.  A strip club employs people with would otherwise either be employed elsewhere or unemployed.  It also collects money which would either be spent elsewhere or saved.  The strip club, like Wal-Mart, libraries, porn shops, and television stations, does not create capital, and therefore it does not contribute to GDP.  It merely reshuffles extant capital.

Wrong, increasing spending increases GDP.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Ah, but the strip club as you said employs people who would otherwise be unemployed, plus it results in soda and/or beer sales. Plus it keeps single mothers and drug addicts off the welfare rolls, something conservatives should be for.

[angus]

perhaps they do.  perhaps they don't.  I'm not arguing that fine point.  and I have nothing against strip clubs, but they do not contribute to economic growth.  when you read in the WSJ about the "growth" of the economy as a small number, like 3 percent or something, it's talking about how much Product there is compared to last year.  Sure, lots of estmates, fudge factors, and aggregates go into this quantity, but in the end, whether I buy a Pepsi or a Blow Job is irrelevant.  If I earn five dollars, and you earn five dollars, and you spend one dollar on a stripper whose income is one dollar and I save five dollars, our Product is ten dollars.  Period.  Strip clubs do not contribute to economic growth.  Mines contribute to economic growth.  As does population increase (in fact natural population increase, including that due to the excess of immigration over emigration, is probably its largest contributor in this country), and various technological advances do as well.  But rechannelling money from other industries and into your favorite industry only affects the distribution of wealth, but not overall growth of the economy.

[MaC]

No, it decreases the market for prude housing