Research Papers

1. License on the Way: The Effects of Expedited Licensure for Migrant Workers (R&R, Journal of Human Resources, April 22, 2025)

2. The Ties that Bind: Occupational Licensing and Family Migration (Under review, May 28, 2025, with E. Timmons)

3. Now You Can Take It with You: Effects of Occupational Credential Recognition on Labor Market Outcomes (Under review, August 21, 2025, with E. Timmons)

4. The Impact of Occupational Licensing on For-Profit Education: Evidence from Cosmetology in the United States (SSRN WPS 5282678, June 4, 2025, with E. Timmons)

5. Exploring the Effects of Occupational Licensing on Earnings Inequality in the United States (NBER WP 33732, May 5, 2025, with M. Kleiner, E. Timmons, C. Norris)

6. Expanded Scope of Practice for Optometrists and Access to Laser Eye Surgery (SSRN WPS 5219143, April 16, 2025, with L. Sigaud)

7. Incentivizing the Repayment of Student Loans: Evidence from Tennessee's Occupational License Suspension Program (May 1, 2020)

8. Seeking Overdraft Fee Revenue: The Consequences of Bank Competition (Nov. 21, 2019)

Research in Progress

1. Migration without Changing Employer: A Growing Pathway to Geographic Mobility of Skilled Workers (with J. Hunt)

2. The Effect of Scope of Practice on the Supply of Prospective Nurse Practitioners 

3. Occupational Licensing, Immigrant Location Choice, and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Refugee Physicians to U.S. States in the 1930s (with E. Timmons)

4. The Influence of Special Interest Groups on Occupational Licensing: A Case of Cosmetology (with S. Slivinski)

Publications (peer-reviewed) - Journal Articles

1. Certificate of Need and the Labor Market (Southern Economic Journal 92(1), 133-151, 2025, with J. Bailey)

2. Seeing Is Believing: The Effects of Optometrist Scope of Practice Expansion (Contemporary Economic Policy 43(1), 135-160, 2025, with E. Timmons, P. Nandy)

3. The Pharmacist Will See You Now: Pharmacist Prescriptive Authority and Access to Care in Idaho (Contemporary Economic Policy 43(1), 161-174, 2025, with S. Shakya, A. Plemmons, E. Timmons)

4. Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Full Practice Authority, Provider Supply, and Health Outcomes: A Border Analaysis (Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice, 25 (1), pp. 6-13, 2024, with C. Norris, S. Shakya, E. Timmons)

5. The Size and Inflow Factors of Hot Money in China (Journal of Northeast Asian Economic Studies 24(2), 155-187, 2012, with S. Kang and J. Lee)

Publications (non-peer-reviewed) - Policy Briefs, Book Chapters, Etc.

1. The Effect of Occupational Licensing on Earnings Inequality in the United States (July 9, 2025 • RESEARCH BRIEFS IN ECONOMIC POLICY NO. 441, Cato Institute, with M. Kleiner, C. Norris, and E. Timmons)

2. Unlocking the Potential of Military Spouse Teachers (Knee Regulatory Research Center Policy Brief, February 2025, with J. da Silva Gonzalez, M. Moses, and E. Timmons).

3. Seeing is believing: The effects of optometrist scope of practice expansion (October 23, 2024 • RESEARCH BRIEFS IN ECONOMIC POLICY NO. 357, Cato Institute, with E. Timmons)

4. 2024 Update to the survey of universal licensing reforms in the United States (Knee Regulatory Research Center Policy Brief,  July 2024, with D. Deyo)

5. Now You Can Take It with You: Effects of Occupational Credential Recognition on Labor Market Outcomes (NOVEMBER 8, 2023 • RESEARCH BRIEFS IN ECONOMIC POLICY NO. 406, Cato Institute, with E. Timmons and P. Nandy)

6. Universal Recognition: Labor Market Effects and Best Practices for Policymakers, Archbridge Institute, May. 2023 (wtih E. Timmons)

7. Maryland Healthcare Lesson for Pennsylvania: How Full Practice Authority Can Increase Access and Improve Outcomes (Commonwealth Foundation, Nov. 2022, with C. Norris, S. Shakya, and E. Timmons, edited by E. Stelle)

8. Restrictions on Health Care Profession Scope of Practice: Do They Help or Harm Patients? (with E. Timmons) In Grease or Grit? International Case Studies of Occupational Licensing and Its Effects on Efficiency and Quality. (edited by Kleiner, M. M. and M. Koumenta) Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. 2022

9. Relaxing Burdens from Education requirements for Occupational Licensing (June 23, 2021, Reforming Occupational Licensing in Utah)

10. On Borrowed Time: How Occupational Licensing Affects Student Loan Debt. Mercatus Policy Brief, George Mason University, Feb. 2021 (with E. Timmons)