THE COSTS OF OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: 444

To put it simply, a government occupational license means that the potential worker must get permission from the government to work and make money in a particular field.  And, guess what, it not only adds appreciable expenses to get “permission” to be able to work in that field, it is often a way for those who are already working there to shield themselves from additional competition.  This, of course, drives up the prices to the consumer in those fields, but it also helps the politicians who promoted that result.  In fact, it is estimated that this licensing costs California residents alone about $840 million in lost economic output each year.

But wait a minute!  Doesn’t the licensing of various professions like medical doctors, attorneys, barbers and plumbers actually protect the consumers?  Sometimes yes, and sometimes no.  But there is a better way both to reduce the prices and to protect the consumers, and that is to allow the Free Market to take over.  Before people can practice and be paid for working in specified occupations they would be required to carry negligence and malpractice insurance.  Insurance companies are not in business to give away money for claims against their insureds, so they would have their own requirements for those whom they would insure.  And this would promote quality work.  But the insurance companies would be competitive with each other, thus both increasing the quality of the work by their insureds and also decreasing the costs of obtaining the insurance.  All of this would bring more competition into those areas of practice.  So that means that both the workers and their customers, as well as the overall economy, would win.  That is virtually everyone would come out ahead, except for the vested interests and the politicians.  (Not a bad result!)  What do you think?

(African proverb: Sheep will spend their entire  lifetimes fearing the wolf, only to be eaten by the shepherd.)

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.) Superior Court of Orange County, California 2012 Libertarian Candidate for Vice President

Please listen to our radio show entitled All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray as we discuss timely issues and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches. The series has concluded, but you can still hear any edition On Demand at https://www.voiceamerica.com/show/3883. And, by the way, these 2 Paragraphs columns are now on my website at www.JudgeJImGray.com, Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com. Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty. In addition, my new book with the same title as my radio show is now available at Amazon.com., as is my wife Grace’s and my new novel centered about School Choice entitled 2030 KIDS: We are the Rising Heroes of the Planet. Please read and discuss them with your friends, and send in a review.