In a general sense, we as a people want law to be just and create equality for every

individual. However, in practice this has been proven to be very hard to achieve. Having a

sense of control over your financial wellbeing and future is an important part of self-actualization

and being healthy mentally. So, it is clear that the law should address the issues causing the

severely disproportionate demographics of entrepreneurs. This is not only important in helping

every individual lead a life they are happy with, but also in boosting the economy. In a country

that prides itself as being governed by the Rule of Law we should do more to make sure that

the law takes care of the citizens that it was enacted to benefit. It is also important to note that

the law shouldnt overstep and place overly strict regulations for business, discouraging

entrepreneurs from starting a new business.

So now that we have established that the law should do something, we come to the

difficult part of the equation: how can the law affect the demographics of entrepreneurs? We

know that there are people who would like to be an entrepreneur that are otherwise discouraged

in one way or another. Where do we draw the line between progressing naturally as a society

towards equality, and highly regulated artificial progress? We dont want any rules barring or

hindering people from starting a business to even out the demographics. That leaves us with the

possibility of using the law to codify incentives for those who are disproportionately less

represented in small business entrepreneurs. While this sounds good in theory, the law must be

complex as to not violate peoples rights. You also dont want to generate lawsuits as prior

demographically targeted legislation has encountered. A theory of setting up a statute would be

to model it in pseudo-affirmative action form. With this idea, small business grants and loans

could be targeted to encourage demographics that wouldnt otherwise become entrepreneurs, to

get the access to the resources they need to do so. The lack of access to resources was noted by
Fairlie when assessing the major cause of a disproportionate number of African-American

entrepreneurs. Robert W. Fairlie, The Absence of the African-American Owned Business: An

Analysis of the Dynamics of Self-Employment, J. Labor Econ. 103 (1999).

If this approach is taken, it wouldnt require an entire restructuring of the dominant law

that governs business practices. The only modifications of the current system would be to

incentivize individuals to become entrepreneurs. This approach wouldnt make waves in the

business world or upset the status quo in a way that would detriment the market. The final and

perhaps biggest hurdle to overcome when looking at how the law should address this issue is,

that as a general rule, those groups who make the laws are generally not populated with those of

the marginalized demographics. Further, the dominant group of lawmakers are white, and many

of them have very little awareness of how white privilege permeates their lives. These factors

make seeking equality that much more difficult.