Modern day slavery: what drives human trafficking in Europe?

in: European Journal of Political Economy 38 (June), 118–139

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In a time of increased attention for human-trafficking on the international agenda, this paper examines the determinants of human-trafficking victim inflows into European countries based on data obtained from national institutions collecting victim numbers. By using a zero-inflated negative binomial fixed effects gravity model to control for data reporting shortcomings, the econometric analysis suggests that human-trafficking occurs within well-established migrant and refugee corridors. Victims are more likely to be exploited in host countries with weak institutions and prohibiting prostitution activities. Additionally, liberalization of border controls exacerbates trafficking flows; while we cannot find an effect of the asylum acceptance rates in host countries. Our results indicate that there is evidence – although not robust – that women in liberal societies and countries who completely repress their rights are least likely to be trafficked.