The work studies the impact of examining committees from territories other than that of the candidates on the intergenerational transmission of regulated professions. The analysis focuses on a reform of the Italian bar exam: before 2004, local committees graded the written exams, but since 2004, exams have been randomly assigned to external committees for grading.
We estimate that the number of new entrants with the same surname and law firm address of a lawyer already registered dropped by 10 per cent since the reform, while the number of new lawyers has not changed. While we do not find significant differences by gender, the fall is more marked in the southern regions.
Published in 2021 in: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, v. 192, pp. 857-879.
