Leading Economists Urge SCOTUS to Reject Occupational Licensing Abuse

Tomorrow the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral
argument in North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v.
Federal Trade Commission. At issue is whether that state
board—which is comprised almost entirely of licensed
dentists—engaged in illegal anticompetitive practices by preventing
non-dentists from performing teeth-whitening services. Last week, a
group of 45 leading economists filed a
friend of the court brief urging the Supreme Court to rule
against the state board. “When self-interested economic actors—such
as licensed dentists—are given the power to influence or, as in
this case, actually write the rules by which others will compete
with them,” the brief observes, “they behave as self-interested
private actors, rather than as stewards of the public
interest.”

Meanwhile, at The Washington Post, George Will argues
that this case provides the Supreme Court with a rare opportunity
to
champion economic liberty against government overreach. “If the
court directs a judicial scowl at North Carolina’s State Board of
Dental Examiners,” Will writes, “the court will thereby advance a
basic liberty—the right of Americans to earn a living without
unreasonable government interference.”

For more on North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners
v. FTC, click
here.