The pandemic of COVID-19 has created a significant strain on the healthcare system in the United States. As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to spread, these numbers are only expected to increase, and with that so does the potential to overwhelm the US healthcare system.American...

We use a newly produced data set on growth in occupational licensing of low-income occupations to estimate the relationship between growth in occupational licensing and intergenerational mobility. Our empirical results suggest growth in state licensing is associated with a 1.6% to 6.2% reduction...

The scope and scale of occupational licensing in the United States continues to grow. Our study finds that stricter optician licensing laws and laws that have been in place for longer periods of time result in higher optician earnings. On the other hand, there is little evidence that licensing...

Designing occupational regulations capable of balancing the need to protect consumers on the one hand with the need to minimize barriers to employment and entrepreneurship on the other has become a public policy priority in many countries, including China. In a State Council executive meeting on...

In this paper, we analyze the development of occupational regulation of massage therapists (MTs) in the United States and the effects of state licensing and certification upon their earnings and numbers. Our results suggest that MTs working in states with licensing receive an earnings premium of...

Occupational licensing in the US has grown rapidly in recent decades. Over most of this period, there has been little concern over, and scant legislative attention directed to, this phenomenon. Recently, however, concerns have arisen about the extent, the costs, and the job-destroying nature...