reference library

We show that occupational licensing has significant negative effects on labor market fluidity defined as cross-occupation mobility. Using a balanced panel of workers constructed from the CPS and SIPP data,…
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The objective of this report is to detail the health, safety and economic contributions of the professional beauty industry and the critical role professional beauty licensing plays in protecting those…
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Political leadership from the governor was one of the strongest factors influencing whether or not licensing was reformed. Governors accomplished this in a myriad of ways. Both Michigan Governor Rick…
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Public choice theory has long been the dominant lens through which economists and other scholars have viewed occupational licensing. According to the public choice account, practitioners favor licensing because they…
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The demand for health care and healthcare professionals is predicted to grow significantly over the next decade. Securing an adequate health care workforce is of primary importance to ensure the…
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Those concerned with restrictions on innovative technologies and business models often decry the stultifying effects of a ‘Mother, May I?’ approach, whereby the innovator needs government permission to enter a…
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It has been a longstanding practice in America for governments to give private entities made up of professionals in an industry the authority to regulate the profession (e.g., state bar…
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As highlighted in a recent White House report, the share of workers in occupations requiring some sort of State license grew fivefold over the last half of the 20th century,…
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[T]his report puts occupational licensing to the test, using the District of Columbia’s now-defunct tour guide licensing scheme as a case study. It finds that the scheme had no effect…
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Occupational licensing regulation has increased dramatically in importance over the last several decades, currently affecting more than one thousand occupations in the United States. I use confidential U.S. Census Bureau…
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[E]mpirical evidence is scarce for the proposition that licensing protects the public. By contrast, it is widely recognized that licensing raises prices for consumers, restricts job opportunities and hinders innovation….
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Licensure is not the only or the most effective way to ensure quality. While occupational licensure is intended to protect consumers from harm, there are many other less-burdensome mechanisms to…
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On many issues, statewide preemption of local policies is common, especially when local governments make it harder for state residents to earn a living. There are currently 25 states that…
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The costs of failing a licensing exam, for example, in dentistry is the estimated present value cost of failing the exam, which was $54,000 in 1997 dollars when reduced earnings…
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No attempt has been made herein to explore exhaustively the countless number of restrictions which operate to harass the life of the small business man, regardless of his calling. But…
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To see whether floral arrangements for sale in Louisiana are indeed appreciably superior to — or even appreciably different from — those made by unlicensed florists, I conducted a randomized…
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The percentage of the workforce affected by occupational licensing has grown nationally and in public education. In assessing educational attainment and quality, there is little evidence that licensing has improved…
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This paper studies the real estate brokerage industry in Greater Boston, an industry with low entry barriers and substantial turnover. Using a comprehensive dataset of agents and transactions from 1998-2007,…
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This study examines the extent and influence of occupational licensing in the U.S. using a specially designed national labor force survey. Specifically, we provide new ways of measuring occupational licensing…
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Only the correlation between the median year of licensing and the percentage of an occupation belonging to its association supports the profit hypothesis. This could, of course, be the result…
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Occupational licensing has been justifiable in the view of legislatures on the grounds that it protects the public interest; often, however, it is the producers of the good or service…
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This study is the first broad exploratory empirical investigation on the effect on the received quality of service from state licensed occupations. It sought to answer purely factual questions about…
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The principal conclusion of this report is that no persuasive economic rationale is available for some of the most important regulations. Restrictions on the total number of firms and vehicles…
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To summarize, the empirical tests used in this study have found no support for the contention that physicians were initially regulated at the behest of the general population. Rather, empirical…
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I analyse occupational licensing as an input regulation that requires minimum levels of human capital investment by professionals. By raising professionals’ training levels, licensing helps alleviate moral hazard problems associated…
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The effect of licensing as a mechanism to control entry into occupations has been a neglected area of both regulation and labor market research. This study examines the role of…
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This study examines the role of variations in occupational licensing policies and practices in improving the outputs of services provided to consumers, and the effect of restrictive regulations on the…
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This paper examines the costs and benefits of occupational regulation. Over 800 occupations arc licensed by at least one of the fifty states. When properly designed and administered, occupational licensing…
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According to the Council of State Governments, more than 800 occupations are subject to licensing requirements in at least one state. It is, therefore, not surprising that a 2006 Gallup…
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This article studies the effect of recruitment restrictions on mobility and wages in the postbellum U.S. South. I estimate the effects of criminal fines charged for “enticement” (recruiting workers already…
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Occupational licensing is among the fastest-growing labor market institutions in the U.S. economy. One of the key features of occupational licensing is that the law determines who gets to do…
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The issue of the government regulation of occupations involves the role of government in reconciling the special interests of the practitioners with those of society. The strictest form of occupational…
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Business enterprises are rarely formed as unionized firms. Similarly, even though occupations develop similar tasks and common procedures for doing a job, they are not begun as licensed occupations. Occupations…
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Entry into licensed professions requires meeting competency requirements, typically assessed through licensing examinations. This paper explores whether the number of individuals attempting to enter a profession (potential supply) affects the…
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Many of these arbitrary regulations are passed at the request of professional associations and government boards that want to protect the pocket books of their members by shutting out new…
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