You can easily look at it another way. In the 1990s Boystown as it then was - before the S was transmogrified into a Z - was operating as a cosy cartel. While the owners may well have used their meetings to discuss street lighting, does anyone also doubt that they were simultaneously agreeing to fix - and not to undercut each other on - prices for drinks and off fees?

Today, however, there is, as noted above, a changed and more competitive environment. A smaller number of punters have more options (e.g. internet sources) on how to find boys without having to pay 350B for a drink. Therefore it's become a case of every business for itself.

With the end of the 1990s cosy cartel, it ought to be expected that increased competition between businesses would drive prices down and so customers would get better deals. This, however, is Thailand where its bizarre brand of capitalism tends to respond to falling sales by increasing prices!