Abstract
Occupational licensing potentially benefits consumers by screening and training workers but at the cost of lower supply. To evaluate this trade-off, I leverage a quasi-experimental setting in which Illinois required compliance training for new and existing real estate agents. Analyzing multiple data sources (licensee registration, aggregate housing statistics, and a national household survey), I find that the reform caused a one-time spike in agent outflows and a decrease in home sales, with female and novice agents being less likely to stay. For the policy intention, I do not find strong evidence that the reform reduced new misconduct incidents.
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