" When people are developing policy and laws regarding sex work, sex workers are rarely at the table."

A study to be released Wednesday about the world’s oldest profession concludes that the lucrative underground commercial sex economy in eight large U.S. metropolitan areas brings in anywhere from $40 million annually to as much as nearly $300 million.

The unprecedented 340-page study by the Urban Institute, a policy research group, finds -- not surprisingly -- that the reach of the Internet has facilitated the flesh trade and made it harder to combat. The report and its in-depth interviews with 73 convicted pimps and traffickers also challenges conventional wisdom on the illicit side of the sex industry.

Read more at the Miami Herald.