* Is there a premium attached to working with a pimp? In 2003, the economist Steven Levitt and the sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh estimated that prostitutes who work with pimps earn about 50 percent more than those who work independently. They surmised that the markup derived from a pimp’s ability to find more clients than a streetwalker could find on her own, but their research predated the move to online advertising. In the age of the Internet and social media, a pimp’s ability to find customers adds less value. According to the Erotic Review data, high-end escorts who advertise online earn a similar amount whether or not they are affiliated with an agency.