CIVIL RIGHTS: The Onerous, Arbitrary, Unaccountable World of Occupational Licensing.

In theory, such licensing protects consumers from being harmed by incompetent or fraudulent providers. (No one wants to get deep into labor only to discover that her midwife can’t tell an umbilical cord from a baby toe.) In practice, however, the process has sprawled far beyond questions of public health and safety, morphing into an onerous, arbitrary, unaccountable mess that, in far too many cases, is less about consumer protection than about economic protectionism.

How does a state decide to license a particular occupation? Typically, workers in that field lobby legislators to establish such a system. Licensing requirements are then determined, and the system is overseen and enforced by a licensing board dominated by practitioners of said field. Any newcomer who attempts to enter that field without a proper license can be shut down by the board.

It’s not hard to spot the potential conflict here.

Indeed. Most licensing exists to promote practitioners’ paychecks, not consumers’ safety.