I see this a little bit different. There are always booming industries precisely because they aren't regulated a lot by the government which open up a venue for all kinds of people with all kinds of backgrounds to make their way to the top without a college education.
Then after some time governments start regulating that industry until only the ones with connections and degrees from good colleges have the chance to enter the industry.
This is the moment when this industry ceases to enable people based on merit (smart, working hard) to move up the social ladder.
Eventually this industry dies because of this process, because now it is not the strong willed, smartest and hardest working that make it to the top but instead it's a bunch of drones from colleges that all have the same thinking, manners and world views.
I believe this has already happened in the financial industry and I feel that in the next 1 or 2 decades this will also happen in the IT industry, which currently isn't heavily regulated.
I myself (immigrating from a Socialist country) made it in one of the richer EU countries to the top 0,5% of society without a college education (I dropped out) in the IT sector and I'm quite sure that I wouldn't have made it if this industry was heavily regulated.
I equate regulation to an entry cost to do business in some area. While regulation in itself isn't bad too many regulations can over time create an environment where only the ones that already have money can enter the playing field.
It's kind of like the rich and powerful see that there's an industry where a lot of profit can be made and the first thing they do is to immediately create entry barriers with regulations so only their own offspring can claim future profits in this industry.
This is actually too broad a generalization to be useful at all. Regulations do hamper and get in the way of business by usually increasing costs. But there is usually a good reason for those regulations (e.g. we have mandatory airbags because they were deemed necessary for people's safety, despite adding to the cost of the vehicle).
I can see why you would have such a viewpoint though. What you describe is exactly what happens in many countries where corruption is more prevalent (e.g. India, Russia etc) with regulations being created precisely to keep out others.
I mean different types of regulations many of which do not even exist in the US/UK but only in the EU.
Regulations that allow only persons with certain college degrees to create a business in some fields.
What would you say if in 10 years from now you can't create a small web business that provides you passive income if you don't have some certificate from your government that is only provided to those with a Master or PHD? (or whatever additional barriers they come up with)
For many this is a way to rise on the social ladder and I know that in the EU country I live in there are right now talks within the government of creating barriers for creating new businesses in the IT sector. (but I just know it because I know people that are directly involved in politics)
If this happens it would be especially sad because in the IT sector you generally don't need a lot of money to buy production factors. You only need to be smart and own a laptop. And this is especially great for poor people that nonetheless have the energy to go out and build something.
Who would profit from this? Big corporations like Siemens because then everyone that is interested in IT must go and work there as an employee and people who can afford to go to college for 4-6 years. Of course the people that could afford to get the degree would then be the bosses of all the others by default.
> I mean different types of regulations many of which do not even exist in the US/UK but only in the EU.
Occupational licensing is actually more prevalent in the US than in EU.
> This regulatory practice is known as “occupational licensing,” and it has spread to cover around 30 percent of the U.S. workforce, up from just 5 percent in the 1950s.
There is an explicit comparison made in the full report:
> Occupational licensing is not unique to the United States. Based on information gathered in 2012 from the then twentyseven nations in the European Union (EU), between 9 and 24 percent of European workers are subject to occupational licensing, which translates to between 19 million and 51 million individuals. These estimates of the share of the workforce that is licensed, even at the higher end, are still lower than the estimated share in the United States, which is slightly under 30 percent (Koumenta et al. 2014).
> Similar to U.S. states, the extent of occupational licensing varies widely across countries in the EU: Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, and Sweden all have less than 15 percent of their workers covered by occupational licensing (Koumenta et al. 2014). Regulation is much more prevalent in other countries, however: at least 25 percent of the workforce in Denmark and Germany, for example, is regulated, and rates are also high in Italy and Spain.
I mostly talk about creating businesses (your own web service for passive income), not getting a job, which isn't really a good way to move upwards to the highest levels in our societies.
Then after some time governments start regulating that industry until only the ones with connections and degrees from good colleges have the chance to enter the industry.
This is the moment when this industry ceases to enable people based on merit (smart, working hard) to move up the social ladder.
Eventually this industry dies because of this process, because now it is not the strong willed, smartest and hardest working that make it to the top but instead it's a bunch of drones from colleges that all have the same thinking, manners and world views.
I believe this has already happened in the financial industry and I feel that in the next 1 or 2 decades this will also happen in the IT industry, which currently isn't heavily regulated.
I myself (immigrating from a Socialist country) made it in one of the richer EU countries to the top 0,5% of society without a college education (I dropped out) in the IT sector and I'm quite sure that I wouldn't have made it if this industry was heavily regulated.
I equate regulation to an entry cost to do business in some area. While regulation in itself isn't bad too many regulations can over time create an environment where only the ones that already have money can enter the playing field.
It's kind of like the rich and powerful see that there's an industry where a lot of profit can be made and the first thing they do is to immediately create entry barriers with regulations so only their own offspring can claim future profits in this industry.