An assessment of the Norwegian prostitution law using longitudinal data

The question of whether laws affect attitudes has inspired scholars across many disciplines, but empirical knowledge is sparse. Using longitudinal survey data from Norway and Sweden, collected before and after the implementation of a Norwegian law criminalizing the purchase of sexual services, we assess the short-run effects on attitudes using a difference-indifferences approach. In the general population, the law only made people more inclined to want to criminalize selling sex. For individuals living in the Norwegian capital, however, the law clearly affected moral attitudes toward buying sex as well as attitudes toward the criminalization of it. This supports the claim that proximity and visibility are important factors for the internalization of legal norms.