Townhall.com::Regulating Interior Designers::By George Will
In New Mexico, anyone can work as an interior designer. But it is a crime, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and up to a year in prison, to list yourself on the Internet or in the Yellow Pages as, or to otherwise call yourself, an “interior designer” without being certified as such. Those who favor this censoring of truthful commercial speech are a private group that controls, using an exam administered by a private national organization, access to that title.This is done in the name of “professionalization,” but it really amounts to cartelization. Persons in the business limit access by others — competitors — to full participation in the business.
Being able to control the number of one’s competitors, and to dispense the pleasure of status, is nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if you have a legislature willing to enact “titling laws.” They regulate — meaning restrict — the use of job descriptions. Such laws often are precursors of occupational licensing, which usually means a mandatory credentialing process to control entry into a profession with a particular title.
This is purely and simply another way (another of which is unions) for a small group of people to control the actions of a much larger group for their benefit or profit. Almost all government regulations are used to restrict access by the public to goods or services that would otherwise be available at much lower cost. These regulations don’t even necessarily provide any benefit to the public, as the so-called “designers” are not demonstrably better or worse at designing interiors than those not licensed. It just means that they now charge higher prices. Want more examples of this kind of regulation? Look at any profession that has a “licensed” version, accountants, lawyers, doctors and the like. Does this mean that they are any better at these professions that someone unlicensed? I dare say they would not be, but it’s not legal to find out, as you can’t practices law without passing your states bar exam, you can’t practice medicine without a license. Does this licensure even guarantee you some kind of minimal performance on the part of the licensee? No, there are hordes of bad doctors out there, who after having their license revoked by one state just move on to another and get licensed there, and I won’t even go into the lawyer arena. If you want a system that works, you have to look outside of government, someone’s reputation in the area is a much better judge of their qualifications than whether or not they are licensed by some government entity. Take a look at the software industry, for example. Someone in this field isn’t even required to have a college degree to be able to find a high paying job, as long as they are able to prove their experience and knowledge in the field. There are certifications available in the field, but they are all issued by private organizations or companies, and these will only get you so far on a job interview. If you put on your resume that you are certified in an area by Microsoft, that may get you in the door for an interview, but you had better actually know your stuff when you get there, as there are far too many people who memorize the questions on the exams just to get their certification. In this areana, experience in the field counts for far more than education or certification do, which is as it should be. My point here is that were government to restrict this profession like they are doing some others, then all those high-schoolers out there that can put together a pretty damn good web site would no longer be able to do so, and you would have to shell out $200-$300/hour for someone to now do what you can get for peanuts from someone looking to gain experience in the field, as the entry barrier would keep most people out. I could expound upon this for pages in the medical arena, but I will save that for another time.