When was it last 1,000 baht in Bangkok? I think about 10 years ago. So it's not been "just a few short years". Creeping up at about 4 percent a year would mean something like 1,500 baht within 10 years.
4 percent per annum isn't a particularly high inflation rate.
Also, demography and economic growth are working against buyers. Thailand's birth rate has stabilised for the last generation or so. Whereas in the 1980s and early 1990s, there were plenty of young men from Isaan, etc, with no jobs, today, there are fewer young men available and somewhat better job prospects even if pay remains low. But the situation is not so bad that boys would want to stand under spotlights in their underwear (or less) to be bought like in a slave market. Those who want the money from working in the sex business nowadays tend to go into the massage business, not the gogo business. Thus the average age of gogo boys is now in their mid 20s and will soon be in their 30s. The really attractive young ones are getting fewer and fewer. That they can command a steadily increasing fee is hardly any surprise.
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