By Caleb Taylor Should Arkansas exempt low-income residents from initial licensing fees? ACRE Economic Policy Analyst Alex Kanode testified on how occupational licensing in Arkansas can serve as a barrier to opportunity for low-income workers at a Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Labor committee meeting on March 17th. Committee members were deliberating on whether to […]
ACRE Experts Featured in “Believe in Arkansas”
By Caleb Taylor Three ACRE experts recently appeared in “Believe in Arkansas” segments hosted by Americans for Prosperity. UCA Assistant Professor of Economics and ACRE Scholar Dr. Jeremy Horpedahl discussed state government spending and Arkansas’s tax rates on March 25th. For more on Horpedahl’s recent research and testimony on sales taxes in Arkansas, check out […]
ACRE Director Discusses Medical Scope of Practice Reform
By Caleb Taylor What changes can Arkansas legislators make to improve residents’ access to care? Arkansas’s primary care shortage is a result of its “excessively restrictive” medical scope of practice laws, according to ACRE Director and UCA Associate Professor of Economics Dr. David Mitchell in “Let them practice” published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on March […]
ACRE Experts Testify on Licensing Research
By Caleb Taylor Two ACRE economic experts shared their research on occupational licensing legislation last week. House Bill 1465 would have mandated that a licensing entity consider the “good moral character” of an individual before granting an occupational license. “Good moral character” is defined in the bill as a personal history of honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, […]
Our State is Freer Than Yours: How State Constitutions Protect Individual Rights
By Caleb Taylor What are the differences between state and federal constitutional law? How do lawyers use state constitutions to protect their clients? How do state laws differ from those at the federal level in protecting individual rights? Come learn the answers to these questions and more from Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Justin Pearson […]
Kanode Discusses Automatic Licensure With Senate Committee
By Caleb Taylor Should new Arkansans with occupational licenses in their previous residence be given automatic licensure in the Natural State? Senate Bill 78 by State Sen. Ricky Hill R-District 29 would do just that for some Arkansans. The bill expands automatic licensure to military members, military spouses and widows who move to Arkansas who […]
Denial of Economic Opportunities: The Case of Barber Licensing
By Caleb Taylor What was the motivation and reasoning behind the original state regulation of barbers in Arkansas? ACRE Research Fellow Tanner Corley explored this question and more in an op-ed, “Hairy regulations,” published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on December 11. According to Corley, Arkansas barbers were able to appeal to fears of unsanitary barber […]
What Changes Will Arkansas See to Occupational Licensing?
By Caleb Taylor Arkansas legislators just wrapped up their first round of sunset reviews of Arkansas’s occupational licenses. What changes are in store? A just-released policy statement, “Occupational Licensing and Arkansas’s Act 600,” by ACRE Economic Policy Analyst Alex Kanode discusses the reforms and missed opportunities of the Arkansas Legislative Council’s Occupational Licensing Review Subcommittee’s […]
Severe Licensing Rules Hurt Economic Opportunity During Recessions
By Caleb Taylor Did a state’s occupational licensing requirements affect business creation during the Great Recession? “U.S. State Occupational Licensing: Measuring its Impact on Business Establishments during the Great Recession” co-authored by ACRE Policy Analyst Alex Kanode, ACRE Scholar and UCA Associate Professor of Economics Dr. Thomas Snyder and ACRE Undergraduate Research Fellow Elsa Mattson […]
How to Prepare Arkansas for the Next Recession
By Caleb Taylor Arkansas’s small businesses are still feeling the effects of the economic downturn from COVID-19, ACRE Director and UCA Associate Professor of Economics Dr. David Mitchell said in a speech to about 25 Conway Kiwanis Club members at Larry’s Pizza on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Mitchell said the Natural State could be better prepared […]