The Cost of Barber Licensing
Apparently, Brown University has at least one student, Austin Rose, who is skeptical of occupational licensing:
As dubious as the costs of freedom are, the costs of licensing are pretty staggering. Licensing of barbers reduces the probability of a black individual working as a barber by 17.3 percent, according to a study published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Every 100 hours of training required adds $2.15 to the price of beauty salon visits. Licensing, by making it more difficult for job-seekers to enter new lines of business and employment, harms social mobility. And, as an Obama White House report notes, low-income entrepreneurship activity takes a hit as well.
Of course, our institutions of higher education layer on much more economic miseducation than one op-ed can correct.
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