"geoff merryweather" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 18:03:42 GMT, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:

They really aren't barriers. They're just cases in which you may have to
be
licensed in the state in which you practice. My wife went through that
with
her teaching certificate. It's just a duplicative bureacratic procedure,
not
a barrier against practicing her profession.

It is a non-trade barrier, which helps keep some bureaucrats employed
and stops out-of-state workers taking the jobs.

Oh, mine Gott...g OK, Geoff, we'll take them before the NAFTA council and
the WTO and straighten out those trade protectionists, by golly...

I doubt if teaching
has such differing requirements between US states that it needs
different certificates for each state, or at most a short course

That's all it is. A test, actually. My wife knocked off the studying for it
in a couple of days.

it is the same as non trade barriers (eg certification requirements)
between countries.

Certification for professions is hardly a trade barrier. It's a matter of
regulating the granting of authority in order to fulfill a local government
responsibility.

You probably don't know the issues here. Education is a state prerogative in
the US. So is administration of medical doctors, barbers, and a lot of other
things.

If the states are going to pay for it and are responsible to regulate and
manage it, they're going to administer the authorization of it: the issuing
of certificates to practice the profession.

It's a remnant of state sovereignty. It's political and social, and it's
much less of an impediment than you may think.

Ed Huntress