Examining the Macroeconomic Costs of Occupational Entry Regulations
Published online on March 26, 2026
Abstract
["Economic Record, EarlyView. ", "\nOccupational entry requirements (OER) are aimed at preventing public harm by ensuring minimum standards. But they can also make it harder for workers to enter occupations, reducing competition and hindering productivity growth. This paper fills an important gap, documenting the stringency of OER across three states of Australia and assessing their impact on economic dynamism. Consistent with overseas work, we find that OER are associated with less firm entry and slower reallocation of resources to productive firms. Bringing OER in line with low stringency OECD countries would appear to have a notable effect on dynamism in the occupation studies.\n"]