Tedy Okech, of Boise, Idaho, has braided hair almost her entire life. She was told she needed a cosmetology license to open a braiding salon in Idaho, requiring years of schooling and training and thousands of dollars. Otherwise, she would be fined or even arrested.
About one-quarter of Americans are now subject to these occupational licensing regulations in order to work — up from about 1 in 20 in the 1950s. Given these trends, are we all going to have to get permission from the government to work in our occupations? When Nobel laureate Milton Friedman was asked why so many occupations were licensed, he quipped that he was surprised that all workers did not seek to be regulated.
Continue reading at The Washington Times.
Morris Kleiner, PhD, is a professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Edward Timmons, PhD, is a senior fellow at the Archbridge Institute and a service associate professor of economics and director of the Knee Regulatory Research Center at the John Chambers School of Business and Economics at West Virginia University. He is regularly asked to provide expert testimony in state legislatures across the US on occupational licensing reform and the practice authority of nurse practitioners. His work is heavily cited by the popular press, and he has authored numerous articles for media publications.
Economics of Flourishing
Tedy Okech, of Boise, Idaho, has braided hair almost her entire life. She was told she needed a cosmetology license to open a braiding salon in Idaho, requiring years of schooling and training and thousands of dollars. Otherwise, she would be fined or even arrested.
About one-quarter of Americans are now subject to these occupational licensing regulations in order to work — up from about 1 in 20 in the 1950s. Given these trends, are we all going to have to get permission from the government to work in our occupations? When Nobel laureate Milton Friedman was asked why so many occupations were licensed, he quipped that he was surprised that all workers did not seek to be regulated.
Continue reading at The Washington Times.
Morris Kleiner
Morris Kleiner, PhD, is a professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Edward Timmons
Edward Timmons, PhD, is a senior fellow at the Archbridge Institute and a service associate professor of economics and director of the Knee Regulatory Research Center at the John Chambers School of Business and Economics at West Virginia University. He is regularly asked to provide expert testimony in state legislatures across the US on occupational licensing reform and the practice authority of nurse practitioners. His work is heavily cited by the popular press, and he has authored numerous articles for media publications.
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