Where the Jobs Are: Entrepreneurship and the Soul of the American Economy

Chapter 7

“Regulations Are Killing Us”

Regulation is essential to market economies. It establishes the rules of competition, ensures a level playing field, governs participants’ behavior, and protects consumers, public health and safety, private property, and environmental resources. In this important sense, economic growth and wealth creation depend on the promulgation and enforcement of regulation.

Indeed, two of our roundtable participants cited regulatory enforcement deficiencies as one of their principal challenges. The first, the owner of an environmental engineering and construction firm outside York, Pennsylvania, told us that spotty local enforcement of immigration and labor regulations, and unscrupulous competitors who take advantage of such breakdowns, frequently rob him of business.

Similarly, Catherine Figueroa, owner of Redi Pedi Cab Company, a rickshaw enterprise catering to Orlando’s tourists and conventioneers, told us that frequent violations of tax, insurance, and safety regulations by her competitors damage the reputation and prospects of her operation, despite her strict compliance. “We operate on International Drive, the tourist district here in Orlando,” she explained. “We offer short-haul transportation and outdoor advertising opportunities on our rickshaws. Exhibitors will come in and sponsor 20 of our pedicabs to ride around the property and promote their business. . . I’m all for government regulation. I know a lot of companies are not. But in my view, ...