Loosening current licensing restrictions on the range of services that nurses, physician assistants, dental hygienists and pharmacists are permitted to perform would help patients on balance, because the additional safety risks would be small compared to the decreased costs in waiting time and fees.
Responses
Responses weighted by each expert's confidence
| Participant | University | Vote | Confidence | Bio/Vote History |
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 Daron Acemoglu |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Alberto Alesina |
Harvard | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Joseph Altonji |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Alan Auerbach |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 David Autor |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Lots of evidence that occupational licensing is excessive. But I cannot speak specifically about the medical profession.
-see background information here |
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 Katherine Baicker |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Marianne Bertrand |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Raj Chetty |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Judith Chevalier |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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There is some evidence on these issues; there is less study of this than one might hope.
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 Janet Currie |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 David Cutler |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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The IOM has summarized all the evidence, and it shows this.
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 Angus Deaton |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Darrell Duffie |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Aaron Edlin |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Tort law is a plenty good safeguard for our safety.
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 Barry Eichengreen |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Ray Fair |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Pinelopi Goldberg |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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If licensing restrictions reflect training requirements, it is not clear that lowering training standards would be beneficial.
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 Claudia Goldin |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Austan Goolsbee |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Michael Greenstone |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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there seems little doubt that licensing restrictions raise costs but there is only a little evidence on the safety risks.
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 Robert Hall |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Bengt Holmström |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Economic logic suggests too tight licensing because of lobbying by affected professionals.
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 Caroline Hoxby |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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This is a question to which only an economist in the field would know the best answer. Knowing what one knows is the essence of expertise.
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 Kenneth Judd |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Anil Kashyap |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Everywhere else in the world people without the title "doctor" seem to be able to do more, seems like we should move in this way too.
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 Pete Klenow |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
 Edward Lazear |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Jonathan Levin |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Eric Maskin |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 William Nordhaus |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Finding the right balance is difficult, but a wholesale ban on licensing would on net confuse patients are probably be a net loss.
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 Maurice Obstfeld |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Cecilia Rouse |
Princeton | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Emmanuel Saez |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 José Scheinkman |
Columbia University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Richard Schmalensee |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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This is surely true for a small relaxation; for a very large relaxation risks would surely outweigh benefits.
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 Hyun Song Shin |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 James Stock |
Harvard | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Nancy Stokey |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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There are surely some restrictions that could be loosened. Agreeing on which ones they are might be harder.
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 Richard Thaler |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Pharmacists must be the most underemployed professionals. Lots of schooling to count pills. In France they actually do stuff.
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 Christopher Udry |
Northwestern | Bio/Vote History | ||
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A sensible approach in many cases is certification, which provides information, increases choice, and reduces costs.
-see background information here |
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 Luigi Zingales |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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