Additionally, higher standards imposed by licensing requirements make consumers worse off. A spectrum of quality from high to low is consistent with the optimal stock of goods. Being forced to purchase a higher quality service or good when a lower quality is wanted is non-optimal. We think higher quality is always better. There are ways to produce information about quality without having all the restrictions imposed by occupational licensing laws.
Certification is one method.
Let me change focus and discuss how taxation stifles entrepreneurship as well. Most economists agree that when we tax something, we get less of it. And when we subsidize something, we get more of it. When we tax income, it stifles entrepreneurship and higher income. When the federal government spent only three or four percent of the GNP, it did not make much of a difference which form of taxation supported federal government activity.