IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/regeco/v48y2015i1p97-123.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

State funeral regulations: inside the black box

Author

Listed:
  • Jerry Ellig

Abstract

This study estimates the effects of state regulations affecting funeral markets. It accounts for multiple major categories of regulations and demand inducement as well as direct price effects. While concurring with prior studies that find ready-to-embalm regulations increase funeral costs and decrease the percentage of cremations, this study finds that several other state regulations are associated with significantly higher receipts per death. The regulation with the largest apparent effect on average funeral costs is the direct disposition license, which is associated with a $1250 reduction in receipts per death. Restrictive regulations affect the revenues of funeral homes and services to a much greater extent than they affect the revenues of cemeteries and crematories, and in some cases the regulations even increase funeral homes and services’ share of industry revenues. Thus, it appears that funeral homes receive most of the benefits of regulation. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Jerry Ellig, 2015. "State funeral regulations: inside the black box," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 97-123, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:regeco:v:48:y:2015:i:1:p:97-123
    DOI: 10.1007/s11149-015-9280-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11149-015-9280-4
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11149-015-9280-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harrington, David E & Krynski, Kathy J, 2002. "The Effect of State Funeral Regulations on Cremations Rates: Testing for Demand Inducement in Funeral Markets," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(1), pages 199-225, April.
    2. Judith A. Chevalier & Fiona M. Scott Morton, 2008. "State Casket Sales Restrictions: A Pointless Undertaking?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(1), pages 1-23, February.
    3. Daniel Sutter, 2005. "State Regulations and E-Commerce: The Case for Internet Casket Sales in Oklahoma," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 20(Spring 20), pages 27-42.
    4. David E. Harrington, 2007. "Markets: Preserving Funeral Markets with Ready-to-Embalm Laws," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(4), pages 201-216, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dick M. Carpenter & Lisa Knepper & Kyle Sweetland & Jennifer McDonald, 2018. "The Continuing Burden of Occupational Licensing in the United States," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 380-405, October.
    2. David E. Harrington & Jaret Treber, 2020. "Constraining Competition With State Mandated Facility Requirements," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(4), pages 659-674, October.
    3. Daniel J. Smith & Noah J. Trudeau, 2019. "The Undertaker’s Cut: Challenging the Rational Basis for Casket Licensure," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 34(Summer 20), pages 23-41.
    4. Harrington, David, 2018. "Constraining Rivals: The Effect of State-Mandated Facility Requirements on the Locations and Sizes of Funeral Homes," Working Papers 06958, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Harrington, David, 2018. "Constraining Rivals: The Effect of State-Mandated Facility Requirements on the Locations and Sizes of Funeral Homes," Working Papers 06958, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    2. Daniel J. Smith & Noah J. Trudeau, 2019. "The Undertaker’s Cut: Challenging the Rational Basis for Casket Licensure," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 34(Summer 20), pages 23-41.
    3. repec:inr:wpaper:248291 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Thierry Blayac & Patrice Bougette & Christian Montet, 2014. "How consumer information curtails market power in the funeral industry," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 421-437, June.
    5. David E. Harrington & Jaret Treber, 2020. "Constraining Competition With State Mandated Facility Requirements," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(4), pages 659-674, October.
    6. Chiara Farronato & Andrey Fradkin & Bradley J. Larsen & Erik Brynjolfsson, 2024. "Consumer Protection in an Online World: An Analysis of Occupational Licensing," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 549-579, July.
    7. Pagliero, Mario, 2013. "The impact of potential labor supply on licensing exam difficulty," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 141-152.
    8. David E. Harrington, 2007. "Markets: Preserving Funeral Markets with Ready-to-Embalm Laws," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(4), pages 201-216, Fall.
    9. Canofari Paolo & Marini Giancarlo & Scaramozzino Pasquale, 2014. "To sleep, perchance to dream: Prices for burial spaces in US states," wp.comunite 0114, Department of Communication, University of Teramo.
    10. Canofari, Paolo & Marini, Giancarlo & Scaramozzino, Pasquale, 2017. "The importance of being remembered: Prices for cemetery plots in the US," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 638-645.
    11. Paolo Canofari & Giancarlo Marini & Pasquale Scaramozzino, 2013. "To Sleep, Perchance to Dream: Prices for Funeral Homes in US States," CEIS Research Paper 260, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 11 Jan 2013.
    12. Alison Cathles & David E. Harrington & Kathy Krynski, 2010. "The Gender Gap in Funeral Directors: Burying Women with Ready‐to‐Embalm Laws?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(4), pages 688-705, December.
    13. Conor Norris & Edward J. Timmons, 2020. "Restoring vision to consumers and competition to the marketplace: analyzing the effects of required prescription release," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 1-19, February.
    14. Pagliero, Mario, 2011. "What is the objective of professional licensing? Evidence from the US market for lawyers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 473-483, July.
    15. J. Mark Ramseyer & Eric Rasmusen, 2013. "Lowering the Bar to Raise the Bar: Licensing Difficulty and Attorney Quality in Japan," Working Papers 2013-12, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    16. Pizzola, Brandon & Tabarrok, Alexander, 2017. "Occupational licensing causes a wage premium: Evidence from a natural experiment in Colorado’s funeral services industry," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 50-59.
    17. Bruno Deffains & Dominique Demougin, 2023. "Capitation taxes and the regulation of professional services," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 167-193, April.
    18. Mario Pagliero & Edward Timmons, 2013. "Occupational Regulation in the European Legal Market," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 10(2), pages 243-265, August.
    19. Judith Chevalier & Fiona Scott Morton, 2006. "State Casket Sales and Restrictions: A Pointless Undertaking?," NBER Working Papers 12012, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Ramon Corona & Nelson Altamirano, 2010. "Is The Treasure Hunt Strategy Working For Costco?," International Journal of Management and Marketing Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 3(3), pages 83-93.
    21. Ramon Corona, 2014. "A Comparative Analysis Of Major Us Retailers Based On Enterprise Marketing Efficiency," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 8(4), pages 25-39.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Funeral; Regulation; Funeral regulation; Funeral director; Cemetery; Occupational licensing; Death care; K23; L51; L84; L88; H73;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K23 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Regulated Industries and Administrative Law
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L84 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Personal, Professional, and Business Services
    • L88 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Government Policy
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:regeco:v:48:y:2015:i:1:p:97-123. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.