Specialization and Regulation: The Rise of Professionals and the Emergence of Occupational Licensing Regulation / Marc T. Law, Sukkoo Kim.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Law, Marc T.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Kim, Sukkoo.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w10467.

NBER working paper series no. w10467

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Specialization and Regulation

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2004.

Summary:

This paper explores the origins and effects of occupational licensing regulation in late nineteenth and early twentieth century America. Was licensing regulation introduced to limit competition in the market for professional services at the expense of efficiency? Or was licensing adopted to reduce informational asymmetries about professional quality? To investigate these hypotheses, we analyze the determinants of licensing legislation and the effect of licensing on entry into eleven occupations. We also examine the impact of medical licensing laws on entry into the medical profession, physician earnings, mortality rates, and the incidence of medical malpractice. We believe that, at least for the Progressive Era, the evidence is more consistent with the asymmetric information hypothesis than the industry capture hypothesis.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2004.