Off-limits lists backfired by advertising bars and driving them to loopholes.

Evidence

At least one vet told me, though, that lists like these give troops at bases ideas about where to go rather than where not to go. And instead of shutting down prostitution, bars and clubs have simply responded with new tactics to vaguely disguise the nature of their business. At so-called juicy bars, for instance, men buy small glasses of supposedly alcoholic juice for scantily clad “juicy girls,” most of whom have been trafficked from the Philippines or the former Soviet Union. The rules differ slightly from bar to bar, but basically, if a man buys enough juice, he can arrange to take a woman out. There’s no explicit exchange of money for sex at the bar, but once the two are off the premises, a deal is done. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 497

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: A classic example of unintended consequences of regulation, echoing Milgrom’s work on formal institutions vs system gaming behavior.

Related

• Off-limits lists gave troops ideas about where to find prostitutes (similarity 0.92)