Calling All Interns: Introducing the SMI Free-Market Question of the Week

Economy |
By David Stokes | Read Time 1 minute

As you may know, one of our areas of interest here at the Show-Me Institute is occupational licensing, as in: How do we get less of it? We will be publishing some great work about this very shortly. I know that it is great, because it’s mine. That aside, here is the first Show-Me Daily free-market question for our readers, staff, former interns, etc.

What is the common occupation with the absolute least amount of government involvement?

The second part: What is the most prominent occupation with the least amount of government involvement?

There are plenty of occupations that don’t involve getting a license as a precondition to work, as doctors and lawyers must do. But many of them, such as farmers or bankers, clearly involve a great deal of government contact. What is the common (legal) occupation where you deal, in any way, shape, or form with the government the least? And, along the lines of doctors, what is the most prominent occupation that does not in any way involve a government license? My answer to the second might be clergymen. I don’t have an answer yet to the first.

Fire away in the comments section. …

About the Author

David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.

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