Doctors with borders: occupational licensing as an implicit barrier to high skill migration

Research on the political economy of immigration overlooks the specificity of human capital in skilled occupations and its implications for immigration preferences and policymaking. Conclusions that skilled Americans are unconcerned about labor market competition from skilled migrants build on a simple dichotomy between high and low skill migrants. In this article we show that natives turn to occupational licensing regulations as occupation-specific protectionist barriers to skilled migrant labor competition. In practice, high skill natives face labor market competition only from those high-skill migrants who share their occupation-specific skills. Licensure regulations ostensibly serve the public interest by certifying competence, but they can simultaneously be formidable barriers to entry by skilled migrants. From a collective action perspective, skilled natives can more easily secure sub-national, occupation-specific policies than influence national immigration policy. We exploit the unique structure of the American medical profession that allows us to distinguish between public interest and protectionist motives for migrant physician licensure regulations. We show that over the 1973–2010 period states with greater physician control over licensure requirements imposed more stringent requirements for migrant physician licensure and, as a consequence, received fewer new migrant physicians. By our estimates over a third of all US states could reduce their physician shortages by at least 10 percent within 5 years just by equalizing migrant and native licensure requirements. This article advances research on the political economy of immigration and highlights an overlooked dimension of international economic integration: regulatory rent-seeking as a barrier to the cross-national mobility of human capital, and the public policy implications of such barriers.     

On the “Exporting” of Morality: Its Relation to Political Conservatism and Epistemic Motivation

A new phenomenon, moral exporting (ME), is introduced to capture active attempts to promote certain views of morality to others. It was hypothesized that political conservatives would be more likely to exhibit ME, due in part to strong epistemic concerns for certainty that may become attached to the moral domain. Related items from the 1988 and 2006 General Social Surveys were analyzed, and new scales were developed to better assess ME and specific moral-related epistemic concerns (moral absolutism). In a second study, these scales were administered to a large college student sample along with measures of political ideology and need for closure (NFC). Results generally showed that political conservatism was strongly related to the new ME factor. Further analysis determined that both moral absolutism (MA) and NFC accounted for significant portions of this relationship, but that the specific epistemic construct (MA) was a more proximal mediator. Discussion centers on further distinguishing ME and MA from related constructs, as well as on future research and applications.     

Measurement of chemical analytes in vitreous humor: stability and precision studies

The analytic accuracy and precision for measurement of chemical analytes in vitreous humor (VH) are critical if results are to be used in forensic pathology. The purpose of our study was to demonstrate the stability and the reproducibility of VH sodium, potassium, chloride, glucose, urea nitrogen, acetone, and beta-hydroxybutyrate in specimens obtained from both eyes in medical examiner cases. We also compared with calculated VH osmolalities. Small but significant increases were observed in VH electrolyte concentrations in specimens refrigerated 6-12 months: sodium pre 144 mmol/L, post 151 mmol/L; potassium pre 12.0 mmol/L, post 12.8 mmol/L; chloride pre 121 mmol/L, post 123 mmol/L. No differences were observed between eyes, and within-day precision for all electrolyte measurements were excellent, (<1%). Frozen specimens showed significantly higher measured (439 mOsmol/kg) as compared with calculated osmolality (305 mOsmol/kg), with 1% within-day precision and no significance between eye variation for glucose and urea nitrogen. In 20 of 24 medical cases selected for possible ketoacidosis, measurement of beta-hydroxybutyrate concentrations appears to be a promising diagnostic biomarker for confirming suspected ketosis in medical examiner cases by means of VH analysis.     

‘new wars’ and gendered economies

Feminist Review - This paper draws on the ‘new wars’ literature and global political economy research to explore how feminists and other critical analysts might investigate linkages...     

European Union Decision Making: the Role of Sub-national Authorities

This article assesses how and to what extent sub-national authorities (SNAs) are represented in EU decision making. In particular, we compare the European goals and strategies of British sub-national authorities with those of their counterparts in Germany. Our central argument is that SNAs starting from very different positions face many of the same challenges and problems, even if their domestic constitutional positions remain the most important determinant of their influence at the EU level. Influence in EU decision making derives largely from effective coalition building, both with other like-minded actors but also, inevitably in the case of sub-national authorities, with central governments. Our case study highlights the enormous diversity of relationships between central governments and 'their' SNAs across the Union. It thus encourages scepticism about the feasibility of a 'Europe of the Regions'.