The licensing of such occupations as nurses and doctors in the United States requires people in those occupations to pass a test administered by the state in which they seek to work. Saying that

“every time a health-care worker moves, some bureaucrat tells him he can’t work,”

a national newspaper argued that the United States could reduce health-care costs if it removed state-to-state licensing barriers.

a. From the perspective of positive economics, what are the labor-market effects of having states, rather than the federal government, license professionals?

b. Who would gain and who would lose from federalization of occupational licensing?