In the 1970s, about 10 percent of American workers required licenses to perform their jobs legally. By 2015, that proportion had more than doubled to 22 percent. There is widespread agreement among economists and an increasing awareness among politicians that there is no public-interest justification for many restrictions of the freedom to work. Indeed, both the Obama and Trump administrations have encouraged states to scale back onerous licensing regulations.
Almost all the policy discussion focuses on the unreasonable burdens regulations place on workers, who in many cases should be able to offer their services without getting anyone else’s permission. I now have personal reasons to believe that the debate over credentialism should pay more attention to the costs incurred by consumers.
