The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work, and Why It Goes Wrong

America’s professional licensing system drives up prices, lowers employment, and fails to protect consumers, according to this hard-hitting debut study. Allensworth, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, concedes that “licensing makes sense when a job is dangerous and requires professional judgment,” such as in law or medicine, but she suggests that laws mandating auctioneers and florists to acquire licenses is overkill. Decrying the sometimes overzealous credentialing standards imposed by state licensing boards, Allensworth recounts how a Tennessee hair braider accrued thousands of dollars in fines and endured frequent raids on her salon because she lacked the 300 hours of classroom instruction required for a cosmetology license. Worse, many licensing boards are woefully inept at preventing misconduct, Allensworth argues, citing case after case of doctors and lawyers whose licenses were restored by complacent medical boards and bar associations after they were convicted of drug dealing, theft, or sexual assault. The author’s commonsense recommendations include abolishing licensing for many trades and regulating the remaining licensed professions with state agencies, which Allensworth asserts are better positioned to avoid the conflicts of interest that arise from practitioners overseeing their own profession. Filled with lucid analysis that cuts through the thicket of legal and economic issues, this is a persuasive critique of a pressing regulatory matter. (Feb.)