New York City offers a dramatic portrait of the regulatory barriers entry-level entrepreneurs face. Throughout New York City individuals of modest means strive to carve out a living and support themselves and their families. They represent a dynamic force of enterprise and energy providing highly desired services in their communities. Yet in New York City, where some 10 percent of the population receives public assistance, antiquated and arbitrary laws turn the vast majority of those bootstrap capitalists into outlaws. Each of those laws imposes an unnecessary, and unreasonable, barrier to legitimate economic activity ideally suited for industrious entrepreneurs of modest means who want to earn a share of the American Dream.
Some laws create ceilings on the number of participants.
By law, no more than four thousand food vendors and seventeen hundred merchandise vendors may operate on the streets of New York. Some barriers require licenses with irrelevant credentialing and training, like cosmetology requirements imposed on hair braiders. Such regulations often have little relevance to public health and safety. For instance, in New York one needs 900 hours of training to become a licensed hair braider, yet only 116 hours to qualify as an emergency medical technician with advanced training in the use of heart defibrillation, and 47 hours to be a security guard trained in the use of deadly force. Most of the regulations serve to preclude entry, always at the behest of powerful interest groups seeking to protect themselves against competition.