The Positive Side of Licensing Barbers

Occupational licensing, Milton Friedman declared in his 1962 classic "Capitalism and Freedom," is an affront to freedom and a check on economic dynamism -- a modern, Western equivalent of medieval guilds and Indian castes. "Licensure," he wrote, "almost inevitably becomes a tool in the hands of a special producer group to obtain a monopoly position at the expense of the rest of the public."

At that time, about 5 percent of employed Americans needed government-issued licenses to do their jobs.1498249727954 When the government survey takers asked workers in 2016 if they held a currently active occupational license or certificate, 25 percent said they did. The most licensed occupational category was the one that had been the main target of Friedman's wrath in 1961 -- health-care practitioners. But lots of workers in lots of other fields now have licenses, too: