Accredited investor tests: How to balance, access, entrepreneurial funding, and investor protection?

Regulators seek to balance investor protection with the costs of that protection. This often leads to a distinction between "accredited" and "retail" investors. Only "accredited" investors can invest in certain "risky" or "illiquid" assets, including start-ups and wholesale funds. But what should be the "bar" to be classified as "accredited"? Should people be able to qualify via income, wealth, or education? Should they be able to self-certify? Thus, this article considers the situation in the US, UK, and Australia and argues in favour of letting people qualify via wealth, income, and education and being able to self-certify.