Is This Really a Good Law?

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"So many lawyers are doing things that we don't notice or see," he says. "It's the way we do public policy at the ground level." The legal profession is hired to tell you how it works, but never step back and assess whether a law is good for society in terms of economic efficiency or social welfare,. Lawyer: It's something that I think is an area of concern since really we're talking broadly about public policy.

Clifford Winston of the Brookings Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the market for lawyers and the role of lawyers in the political process. Drawing on a new co-authored book, First Thing We Do, Let's Deregulate All the Lawyers, Winston argues that restrictions on the supply of lawyers and increases in demand via government regulation artificially boost lawyers' salaries. Deregulation of the supply (by eliminating licensing) would lower price and encourage innovation.