Desperate housewives and the meninas: Local economic effects of the Mother's of Bragança

In this paper, we study the economic effects of the persecution against immigrant prostitutes that became internationally known as the Mothers of Bragança social movement. Using a synthetic control method approach, we estimate the impact on local economic conditions, namely on GDP per capita, volume of withdrawals in ATMs per habitant, number of private firms, consumption of electricity per habitant, and employment in private firms. Our findings suggest that the closure of bars and cafes involved with prostitution had a positive impact in Bragança. This result can be explained by the extensive media coverage, including the cover and the main article of Time magazine presenting the municipality as “Europe’s new red-light district”, boosting the inflow of tourists to the region and increasing GDP per capita and the number of firms, especially those related with touristic activities.