Employment Zoning is Working in Rural Texas

Abstract

There is a process for regulating various aspects of our daily lives that is followed more or less uniformly by almost every unit of federal, state, and local government. Basically, it works like this: when the lawmakers perceive a problem, they invent performance standards to correct it. People who wish to engage in the activity (nuclear power generation, for instance; or selling aluminum siding) are tested against the performance standards. Those who meet the standards may proceed, and those who fail may not. The system has many faults, but it does give the public some assurance that those who hold themselves up as airline pilots or dog groomers do possess the minimum skills necessary to ply their trade.