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What are the long run effects of nurse occupational licensure?

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  • Mindy Marks

    (Department of Economics, University of California Riverside)

  • Marc Law

Abstract

Most theories of occupational regulation posit that the effects of occupational licensure regulations—laws that require members of an occupation to possess a license in order to practice—increase with time. In this paper, we take advantage of a quasi-experiment afforded by the fact that different US states adopted mandatory licensing of registered and practical nurses at different times to estimate the effects of licensing on wages and participation, allowing for licensing laws that have been in place longer to have larger effects. We investigate these impacts on the profession as a whole, and on minority workers in particular, using individual-level data taken from four waves of the US decennial censuses. While we find some evidence that wages of nurses increased with the duration of licensing, there is no systematic evidence that participation declined. Additionally, for registered nurses, we find that minority wages rose faster than non-minority wages, and that the participation of minority workers increased with time relative to non-minorities following licensure. Taken as a whole, these findings are more consistent with the public interest theory than the capture theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Mindy Marks & Marc Law, 2014. "What are the long run effects of nurse occupational licensure?," Working Papers 201439, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucr:wpaper:201439
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    File URL: https://economics.ucr.edu/repec/ucr/wpaper/201439.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Law, Marc T. & Kim, Sukkoo, 2005. "Specialization and Regulation: The Rise of Professionals and the Emergence of Occupational Licensing Regulation," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 723-756, September.
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