Within the social sciences, welfare state research is a very good example of how research questions have been adapted to changing circumstances and realities and how analyses have consistently built on previously accumulated knowledge. In this manner, welfare state research has become more and...

"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 percent of American...