There’s been a lot of discussion about the role that taxation plays in affecting business writes Matthew Yglesias. But what’s far more important is the licensing barriers that they face. Some examples of the odd requirements around the country include:

• In three states interior designers require 2,190 hours of training, and satisfactory marks on an exam. Interior designers in the other 47 states do just fine despite not having a licensing regime.
• The amount of training required to be a barber varies by state. In New York it’s 884 days. In New Jersey it’s 280. Yet the experience of getting your hair cut is the same in the two.
• In Oklahoma you have to be 21 years old to be a locksmith. In New Jersey you need a high school diploma. In Tennessee you need to pass two exams.

As a part of his plea for less stringent licensing requirements he notes that:

• Licensing regimes are often put into place by existing operators to make it difficult for newcomers to enter their field, thus reducing competition.
• Over time licensing requirements seem to increase.

To read more about the effect that licensing requirements have on business, which states do the best job of reducing them, why licensing isn’t always unreasonable, the cases where licensing plays an important role, why these rules seem random, and what states need to do, click here.

Source: Slate

Via: Marginal Revolution