ABSTRACT
For ease of presentation let's start with the second question in this chapter's title. The only two empirical studies on traffickers conducted by Nair (2004) in India and Levenkron (2007) in Israel did not support the popular claims that these people make enormous profits. My own results are consistent with Nair's and Levenkron's findings. In Cambodia also, human trafficking does not appear to be a lucrative activity. The low socioeconomic condition of my participants before their incarceration already suggested that much. However, I also systematically questioned them about the revenue they made from their trafficking activities. The examples I provide to document the level of earnings made by my participants are generally representative of their subgroups: traffickers, smugglers, brothel owners, and spruikers. In this section, I draw from the accounts of my 83 convicted participants and the three human smugglers.
