- Leon Louw of the FMF discusses consequences of the government’s new laws and policies that require businesses to have a licence from local municipality in order to operate.
- A draft law from the department of trade and industry proposes that all businesses in the country - whether formal or informal - register with, and obtain a licence from, their local municipality.
- But will these new business licence requirements have unintended consequences that will have a negative impact on the economy and even jobs amongst other things.
- He points that such requirements would make small business and even informal ones to suffer severely, and on the other hand to make government officials more corrupt.
- He points out that the Business Bill should be disregarded.
- There is no country that has such a law, such laws operated under apartheid.
- No one knows where this idea came from. He suggests perhaps this idea was resurrected from the archives of Verwoerd.
Further Reading:
Free to Choose by Milton and Rose Friedman.
I, Pencil by William Read.
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell
In Defense of Global Capitalism by Johan Norberg.
The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else by Hernando de Soto.
Prosperity versus Planning: How Government Stifles Economic Growth by David Osterfeld
The Poverty of Development Economics by Deepak Lal.
The Regulated Consumer by Mary Bennet Peterson.
Hazlitt, Henry, "The Torrent of Laws," in The Wisdom of Henry Hazlitt, edited by Hans Sennholz
The Capitalist and The Entrepreneur by Peter G. Klein.
For in depth understanding:
Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics by George Reisman.
Power and Market by Murray Rothbard.
Human Action by Ludwig Von Mises
Man, Economy and State by Murray Rothbard.