Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio

621. Is Professional Licensing a Racket?

February 7, 202555 min

0:0055:15

About this episode

Licensing began with medicine and law; now it extends to 20 percent of the U.S. workforce, including hair stylists and auctioneers. In a new book, the legal scholar Rebecca Allensworth calls licensing boards “a thicket of self-dealing and ineptitude” and says they keep bad workers in their jobs and good ones out — while failing to protect the public. SOURCES:Rebecca Allensworth, professor of law at Vanderbilt University. RESOURCES:"The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work, and

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Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner uncovers the hidden side of everything — why is it safer to fly than drive, how do we decide whom to marry, and more.

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