At least when it comes to the licensing requirements we impose on people trying to earn a living.

Some 71 professions require a license in the Bayou State, the most in the country.

The Institute of Justice has more – including what we do to interior designers and shampooers…

We rail often on here about all the useless boards and commissions this state has, and how those boards and commissions are nothing more than an opportunity to spread political patronage on campaign donors. But it’s worse than that, because those boards and commissions very often regulate the practice of one profession or another with little or no rational need for their existence.

Why does Louisiana need a Board of Cosmetology? It’s hair – it’ll grow back if somebody does a bad job of cutting it. And it’s rare for anybody to complain to the Board of Cosmetology if they get a bad haircut; they just go somewhere else the next time. It’s not like the people on the Cosmetology Board are such exemplars of ethics and propriety that the rest of the profession has to have them as official mentors.

These things exist not to promote safety or professionalism in most cases; they exist to restrain competition. And that’s bad public policy; it actually discourages excellence despite that being its stated aim.

IJ has it right, and it’s a good thing they’re busy fighting needless regulations and shackles to economic freedom here and elsewhere.