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Archives for David Cox

Subject Matter Experts – The Selection Process

July 13, 2016  | Published by  | Comments Off on Subject Matter Experts – The Selection Process

Co-authored by Vincent Lima and David Cox. One of the most valuable and often under managed assets of certification programs... View Article





Senate Hearings Hammer Licensing

March 16, 2016  | Published by  | Comments Off on Senate Hearings Hammer Licensing

In his 1966 book “The Psychology of Science” Abraham Maslow quoted “If your only tool is a hammer then every... View Article





Avoiding a Third Best Outcome: The White House Weighs In On Smarter Occupational Licensure

October 29, 2015  | Published by  | Comments Off on Avoiding a Third Best Outcome: The White House Weighs In On Smarter Occupational Licensure

Occupational Licensing’s Rise to Attention

In the United States, the post-1950 expansion of the service economy fueled policies by States to license specialized skill-intensive occupations in rationally uncontested areas such as medicine and law. Subsequent progressive social reforms such as the consumer activist movement of the 60's contributed to a public panglossian view of occupational licensure as a benevolent action enacted to protect them against unscrupulous, incompetent and unsafe providers of professional services. Legislators found little political reason to constrain proposals for licensure particularly when buoyed by the fact that licensing is principally self-funded through licensing fees giving it little if any impediment from budget or appropriation constraints.





Is Education Disrupted?

July 29, 2015  | Published by  | Comments Off on Is Education Disrupted?

Today, the hegemony of formal education’s traditional business model is being challenged.  Macro trends in employment, technological advances and the inability for our legacy educational systems to maintain pace with an unprecedented global demand for learning have fueled a renaissance in educational entrepreneurship and innovation that are sure to change the way we think about education and learning.





Has Your Board Been Immunized?

April 21, 2015  | Published by  | Comments Off on Has Your Board Been Immunized?

Occupational regulation has experienced a remarkable level of expansion over the past several decades and the public protection role of occupational regulation has generally been accepted as the logically justifiable rationale for its creation.

Indeed a large body of economic literature has shown that free markets for professional services may not produce efficient outcomes resulting from market failures of information asymmetries, natural monopolies and externalities that harm the public.

While common ground can be found in a market failure rationale for regulatory intervention, much of the regulatory power at the State level rests with occupational licensing boards, whose members consist of active participants in the profession being regulated. Licensing boards regularly meet to establish and maintain requirements for entry into hundreds of occupations. Scholarly research on the effects of this structure in occupational regulation have concluded that among its unwanted consequences is the creation of industry captured cartels, limiting competition and increasing costs to consumers, without a proportional welfare benefit in terms of quality or safety.