> One particular sleight of hands is perpetuating the myth that the financial commitment when entering medschool is akin to taking a risk. It is decidedly not because the payoff is virtually guaranteed.
That's my argument. That the payoff is virtually guaranteed precisely because of the supply controls via licensing.
A Canadian friend gave me a kind of counterexample: Canada decided it was at risk of running out of X (some profession, specialty doctor I think), so they pulled levers to ensure a bunch of students trained in that. Those students graduate, oversupply, salaries crater, too bad for them.
It's not only the monetary cost as a risk, but the opportunity cost of entering a profession that requires extended training.
These are people's lives. Maybe they should be paid less, but it seems pretty shitty to say "We need you to do this really important job really well, so train really hard and then..." (you have some security)|(cross your fingers and hope the labor market hasn't changed while you were in a decade of school)?
That's my argument. That the payoff is virtually guaranteed precisely because of the supply controls via licensing.
A Canadian friend gave me a kind of counterexample: Canada decided it was at risk of running out of X (some profession, specialty doctor I think), so they pulled levers to ensure a bunch of students trained in that. Those students graduate, oversupply, salaries crater, too bad for them.
It's not only the monetary cost as a risk, but the opportunity cost of entering a profession that requires extended training.
These are people's lives. Maybe they should be paid less, but it seems pretty shitty to say "We need you to do this really important job really well, so train really hard and then..." (you have some security)|(cross your fingers and hope the labor market hasn't changed while you were in a decade of school)?