The Charge That Ended The War: Union Infantry At Petersburg Surged On To Richmond

Given the steady market for Civil War battle studies, the lack of a complete treatment of the individual engagements of the Petersburg campaign is puzzling. There were battle-scale combats during all but two of the months from June 1864 through April 1865, yet just six detailed studies of the 11 maj...

Essays in the Consequences of Occupational Regulation

Occupational regulation affects many people across many aspects of life. This dissertation research investigates the consequences of occupational regulation across three different areas of study: economic history, urban and regional economics, and health policy. The first chapter investigates the historic licensing of emigrant agents. In the period following the US Civil War, firms wished to capitalize on the availability of African American labor. To do so they hired emigrant agents, also known as labor agents, to hire and help with the migration of individuals from the South. Faced with out-migration at the hands of the labor force, some southern states licensed the profession as a substantial barrier to practice. I use linked full-count US Censuses to determine the effect that licensing emigrant agents had on the individual probability of migration both out of state, and out of the South. The second chapter deals with cross-border competition and the effects of licensing massage therapists. Licensing laws are passed at the state level; and thus, there can be considerable variation across states. Should there be much economic activity at state borders, this would be inconsequential. Yet, the existence of metropolitan areas spanning state borders begs the question of what effects can restricting competition be when competitive substitutes are easily available. The third chapter is joint work with Dr. Bobby W. Chung of St. Bonaventure University and presents an analysis of the effect of expanding scope of practice for nurse practitioners

Occupational Licensing and Intra-MSA Effects: Massage Therapists in the US

Occupational licensing has been shown to have many pervasive economic effects. Licensing restricts competition, which causes wage premiums, potentially induces rent seeking, and ultimately results in consumers having to pay high prices through both channels of reduced supply and producers passing on increased cost of doing business. Licensing laws are passed at the state level; and thus, there can be considerable variation across states. Should there be much economic activity at state borders, this would be inconsequential. Yet, the existence of metropolitan areas spanning state borders begs the question of what effects can restricting competition be when competitive substitutes are easily available. This theory is tested using major MSAs that cross state borders and data from the American Community Survey to show how the differing licensing schemes affect the incomes of practicing massage therapists. Ultimately, it appears that the effect of easily available substitutes of massage therapists in the border state mutes the effect of the wage premium that would be caused by a more restrictive licensure scheme. Not only do wage premiums not appear in geographically adjacent states, it is especially missing in border MSAs