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> Occupational licensing only serves to raise barriers to entry and crowd out competition without raising quality. To put my opinion bluntly, Bernie Madoff had

by sgift 7y ago

> Occupational licensing only serves to raise barriers to entry and crowd out competition without raising quality. To put my opinion bluntly, Bernie Madoff had a license. Almost every country in the world established at one point or another some kind of licensing for various professions. I think the barrier of "this is all bullshit" is a bit higher than one bad apple for something found to be a good idea by so many people. Do you have some supporting arguments for your position?

bgorman 7y ago
Look at teaching in the United States. All states require teacher licensing at public schools. However private schools do not and get better outcomes. Same thing with many unions for trades. I have yet to see any evidence a union electrician or plumber is better than a non-union worker, however unions do all they can to keep competition off the market.
- jmcqk6 7y ago
  > All states require teacher licensing at public schools. However private schools do not and get better outcomes. Some private schools get better outcomes than some public schools, but that is not universally true. The factors involved in outcomes in education are a whole lot more complicated than teacher licensing.+
- pbourke 7y ago
  Would you be willing to be treated by a Doctor without a medical license or be represented by an attorney who hasn’t taken or passed the bar exam?
  - repolfx 7y ago
    Me? In a world where such licenses were not mandatory, i.e. the doctor in question wasn't actually breaking any laws? Sure. I'd probably want some alternative evidence of competence of course, like a long stream of happy, healthy, cured patients who could vouch for him. Or alternatively some sort of private sector approval scheme, based on trademark licensing. Sort of like how you can't claim a phone supports Bluetooth unless it's been licensed and approved. But in general I don't see any reason to assume the specific licensing regimes in place today are so grea.t
pg_bot 7y ago
Sure, this report does a good job summarizing the tradeoffs of occupational licensure. If I were to highlight a section to read it would be pages 13 and 14. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/licensing_report_final_nonembargo.pdf https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/doc...
teunispeters 7y ago
"one bad apple destroys the whole batch" you need one bad example to disprove the validity of this kind of approach, unless standards are enforced to get the bad apples out as early and as quickly as possible.
- sgift 7y ago
  The given example was send to jail until the end of his life. Looks like standards enforced to me. It's also the whole point of licensing: You have a standard you can enforce and if people fail to fulfill it there are consequences.

by sgift 7y ago

bgorman 7y ago

Look at teaching in the United States. All states require teacher licensing at public schools. However private schools do not and get better outcomes. Same thing with many unions for trades. I have yet to see any evidence a union electrician or plumber is better than a non-union worker, however unions do all they can to keep competition off the market.

jmcqk6 7y ago
> All states require teacher licensing at public schools. However private schools do not and get better outcomes. Some private schools get better outcomes than some public schools, but that is not universally true. The factors involved in outcomes in education are a whole lot more complicated than teacher licensing.+
pbourke 7y ago
Would you be willing to be treated by a Doctor without a medical license or be represented by an attorney who hasn’t taken or passed the bar exam?
- repolfx 7y ago
  Me? In a world where such licenses were not mandatory, i.e. the doctor in question wasn't actually breaking any laws? Sure. I'd probably want some alternative evidence of competence of course, like a long stream of happy, healthy, cured patients who could vouch for him. Or alternatively some sort of private sector approval scheme, based on trademark licensing. Sort of like how you can't claim a phone supports Bluetooth unless it's been licensed and approved. But in general I don't see any reason to assume the specific licensing regimes in place today are so grea.t

pg_bot 7y ago

Sure, this report does a good job summarizing the tradeoffs of occupational licensure. If I were to highlight a section to read it would be pages 13 and 14. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/licensing_report_final_nonembargo.pdf https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/doc...

teunispeters 7y ago

"one bad apple destroys the whole batch" you need one bad example to disprove the validity of this kind of approach, unless standards are enforced to get the bad apples out as early and as quickly as possible.

sgift 7y ago
The given example was send to jail until the end of his life. Looks like standards enforced to me. It's also the whole point of licensing: You have a standard you can enforce and if people fail to fulfill it there are consequences.