Occupational Licensing and Accountant Quality: Evidence from the 150‐Hour Rule
研究了提高注册会计师教育要求的150小时规则对会计师质量的影响，发现该规则减少了行业进入者数量，但并未提升劳动力市场上的质量。
ABSTRACT I examine the effects of occupational licensing on the quality of certified public accountants (CPAs). I exploit the staggered adoption of the 150‐hour rule, which increases the educational requirements for a CPA license. The analysis shows that the rule decreases the number of entrants into the profession, reducing both low‐ and high‐quality candidates. Labor market proxies for quality find no difference between 150‐hour rule CPAs and the rest. Moreover, rule CPAs exit public accounting at similar rates and have comparable writing quality to their nonrule counterparts. Overall, these findings are consistent with the theoretical argument that increases in licensing requirements restrict the supply of entrants and do little to improve quality in the labor market.