Agreed - I think Emily Post said your date should never cost less than the dinner.<p>Blatant libel aside, I would guess that the majority of it is quality of service + price targeting. i.e. The kind of people that would go to an event where a fancy escort would be necessary are those with the means to pay a high premium.<p>Of course all this is with a grain of salt - my expertise lies more in the realm of economics than paid companionship.    After skimming the study, it seems like they've fallen in the classic academic trap of too much analysis, not enough data.  All the regressions in the world don't make up for a little bit of investigation.<p>Specifically regarding this field, of course, the major red flag is the inability to gather data on the consumers.  They tend to keep their precious data to themselves, giving no thought to the poor grad students.