Paradoxes of Professional Regulation: In Search of Regulatory Principles

by Michael J. Trebilcock

Overview

Occupational licensure, including regulation of the professions, dates back to the medieval period. While the guilds that performed this regulatory function have long since vanished, professional regulation continues to this day. For instance, in the United States, 22 per cent of American workers must hold licenses simply to do their jobs. While long-established professions have more settled regulatory paradigms, the case studies in Paradoxes of Professional Regulation explore other professions, taking note of incompetent services and the serious risks they pose to the physical, mental, or emotional health, financial well-being, or legal status of uninformed consumers.

Michael J. Trebilcock examines five case studies of the regulation of diverse professions, including alternative medicine, mental health care provision, financial planning, immigration consulting, and legal services. Noting the widely divergent approaches to the regulation of the same professions across different jurisdictions – paradoxes of professional regulation – the book is an attempt to develop a set of regulatory principles for the future. In its comparative approach, Paradoxes of Professional Regulation gets at the heart of the tensions influencing the regulatory landscape, and works toward practical lessons for bringing greater coherence to the way in which professions are regulated.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487543044
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	03/07/2022
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Michael J. Trebilcock is a professor emeritus in the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Introduction: Paradoxes of Professional Regulation: Under and Over-Regulation of Professional Service Markets
2. Regulating Alternative Medicines: Disorder in the Borderlands
3. Regulating Mental Health Care Providers: Building Stronger Signposts through the Maize
4. Financial Advisors and Planners: In Search of Regulatory Principles
5. Regulating Immigration Consultants: Precarity and Exploitation
6. Regulating the Market for Legal Services: Paradoxes of Over and Under-Regulation Within a Single Profession
7. Conclusion: Reducing the Paradoxes of Professional Regulation

What People are Saying About This

Carolyn Hughes Tuohy

"In Paradoxes of Professional Regulation, Michael J. Trebilcock incisively dissects the challenges of under- or over-regulating professional services, and provides a clear-eyed approach to determining the appropriate scope, method, and aegis of regulation in particular cases. Studded with insights along the way, the book offers distilled wisdom from a leading scholar in the field."

Frank H. Stephen

"This book draws attention to the relevance of regulation in a number of professions that are not discussed much in the general literature but whose conduct can have a significant impact both on their clients and on society more widely. Bringing these cases together in a single volume illustrates that the application of a consistent analytical framework does not result in the same structure of regulation being recommended in each case. The value of this book is more than the sum of the individual cases."

Editorial Reviews

"In Paradoxes of Professional Regulation, Michael J. Trebilcock incisively dissects the challenges of under- or over-regulating professional services, and provides a clear-eyed approach to determining the appropriate scope, method, and aegis of regulation in particular cases. Studded with insights along the way, the book offers distilled wisdom from a leading scholar in the field."

—Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Distinguished Fellow, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto

"This book draws attention to the relevance of regulation in a number of professions that are not discussed much in the general literature but whose conduct can have a significant impact both on their clients and on society more widely. Bringing these cases together in a single volume illustrates that the application of a consistent analytical framework does not result in the same structure of regulation being recommended in each case. The value of this book is more than the sum of the individual cases."

—Frank H. Stephen, Emeritus Professor of Regulation, School of Law, University of Manchester

From the Publisher