[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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]