Amazon is simply the best store that ever existed, by far, with incredible selection and unearthly convenience.  The price: cheap. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media let us socialize with our friends, comfortably meet new people, and explore even the most obscure interests.  The price: free. Uber and Lyft provide high-quality, convenient transportation.  The price: really cheap. Skype is a sci-fi quality video phone.  The price: free. Youtube gives us endless entertainment.  The price: free. Google gives us the totality of human knowledge!  The price: free. - Bryan Caplan, Ph.D.,...

If people are free to discriminate in favor of, or against, a university or wine, what argument can be made against their having that same right with respect to choosing based on the race or sex characteristics of their mates, employees, tenants, or club members? If one shares the value of freedom of association, why should some associations be permitted and others denied? If a man is not permitted to bring a court action against a woman who refuses to deal with him, in form of a dating or marital relationship or for any arbitrary reason she chooses, what is the case for bringing court...

To criticize occupational licensing laws is not to argue that information about the quality of a licensee's services is not important to consumers. However, it is by no means clear that licensing is the most effective way to provide that information. Indeed, licensing may lower the "received" quality of the service in question. By making entry costs higher, there are fewer practitioners, which, as noted above, increases the cost of the service rendered and leads some consumers to resort to do-it-yourself methods that generally results in a lower-quality end product. For example, even the...