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2 Datta, Samar K. & Nugent, Jeffrey B., “Adversary Activities and Per Capita Income Growth,” 14 World Dev 1457 (1986); Laband, David N. & Sophocleus, John P., “The Social Cost of Rent-Seeking: First Estimates,” 58 Pub. Choice 269 (1988); Magee, Stephen P., Brock, William A., & Leslie Young, “The Invisible Foot and the Waste of Nations: Lawyers as Negative Externalities,” in Black Hole Tariffs and Endogenous Policy Theory: Political Economy in General Equilibrium (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989) (“Magee, et al., ‘Invisible Foot’“); Murphy, Kevin M., Andrei Shleifer, & Robert Vishny, “The Allocation of Talent: Implications for Growth,” 106 Q.I. Econ 503 (1991); Magee, Stephen P., “The Optimum Number of Lawyers” (presented at the Western Economic Association Meetings, Seattle, 2 July 1991) (on file with author) (“Magee, ‘Optimum Number’“); Magee, Stephen P.,”The Optimum Number of Lawyers: Cross-national Estimates,” presented at Law School, University of Wisconsin, 28 Feb. 1992 (on file with author) (“Magee, ‘Cross-national Estimates' “); Magee, Stephen P., “How Many Lawyers Ruin an Economy?” (Letter to the Editor), Wall St. J. 24 Sept. 1992, $ A, p. 17 (“Magee, Letter”).Google Scholar

3 One dissent, a thorough critique of early research on the question, is Cross, Frank B., “The First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Economists: An Empirical Evaluation of the Effect of Lawyers on the United States Economy and Political System,” 70 Tex. L Reu.645 (1992).Google Scholar

4 Magee, Letter.Google Scholar

5 Magee, “Optimum Number;”id.“Cross-national Estimates”; Magee et al, “Invisible Foot.” In this article, I take the somewhat unusual step of critiquing work that has not been published other than through presentations. I take that step because Magee's research has gained an unusually high level of publicity. One indication of that level is that a Lexis search for his name within 25 words of “lawyer” produces more than 60 citations within the last two years.Google Scholar

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7 Olson, Mancur, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Goups (New York: Schocken, 1965) (“Olson, Logic”); id, The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Sod Rigidities (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1982)(“Olson, Rise and Decline”).Google Scholar

8 Datta & Nugent, 14 World Dev.; Magee et al, “Invisible Foot.”Google Scholar

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10 Magee's proposal, probably made tongue-in-cheek, was advanced during a debatewith Joe Jamail at the University of Texas, and reported in the news article “School's Out—until 2004,” in the Texas Lawyer, 6 April 1992, at 47. Although probably less than serious, the proposal suggests that Professor Magee views lawyer populations as a cause of the economic problems associated with rent seeking, rather than reflective of the level of rent seeking.Google Scholar

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12 Olson's theory is controversial. Critics have attacked it for its strained view of individual self-interest and rationality and for its failure to recognize that differences in the political and economic structures of societies produce differences in the level and type of interest organization. Both criticisms suggest that the “logic” of collective action is very far from empirical experience. The critics include Wilson, James Q., Political Organizations(New York: Basic Books, 1974); Terry Moe, The Organization of Interests (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980); and Wilson, Graham K., Interest Goups (Cambridge: Basil Blackwell,1990) (“Wilson, Interest Groups”). In addition, careful empirical tests of the theory find nosupporting evidence; see Virginia Gray & David Lowery, “Interest Group Politics and Economic Growth in the U.S. States,” 82 Am. Pol Sci. Reb. 109 (1988); Clark Nardinelli, Wallace, Myles S., & Warner, John T., “Explaining Differences in State Growth: Catching up versus Olson,” 52 Public Choice 201 (1987).Google Scholar

13 On the rapid growth of the U.S. legal profession, see Abel, Richard L., “The Transformation of the American Legal Profession,” 20 Law B Soc'y Rev. 7 (1986); Curran, Barbara A., “American Lawyers in the 1980s: A Profession in Transition,” 20 Law B Soc'y Rev.19 (1986); Halliday, Terence C., “Six Score Years and Ten: Demographic Transitions in the American Legal Profession 1850-1980,” 20 Law & Soc'y Rev. 53 (1986); and Sander, Richard H. & E. Douglas Williams, “Why Are There So Many Lawyers? Perspectives on a Turbulent Market,” 14 Law & Soc. Inquiry 431 (1989). Lawyer populations in other countries have grown rapidly as well; see chapters in Abel, Richard L. & Philip S. C. Lewis, eds.,Luwyen in Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988).Google Scholar

14 The legal profession has struggled to overcome obstacles to collective action andhas been more successful in doing so at the state level than at the national level. Some 33 states have “unified bars,” requiring bar membership in the state and national bar associations by all lawyers practicing within the state. That inclusiveness, as Halliday shows, provides some state bar associations with resources but also with obstacles to concerted action. Halliday, Terence C., Beyond Monopoly: Lawyers, State Crises, and Professional Empowemtent(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987). According to Halliday's analysis, many localand state bar associations are highly organized, and many work effectively on some issues;but they are most capable of acting collectively on issues of a highly technical nature, primarily related to encouraging the state to follow fair procedures and the rule of law in implementing policy goals, encouraging the adoption of uniform laws among the states, and rationalizing the process of justice. While critics might conclude that those goals serve the pecuniary interests of the legal profession, it does not follow that the goals will impair the economic performance of the private sector. Indeed, the more plausible conclusion is that procedural reform, uniformity of laws, and efficiency in the justice system will diminish somedrags on economic performance; see also Holliday at 365–68.Google Scholar

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22 Saks, Michael J., “Do We Really Know Anything about the Behavior of the Tort Litigation System-and Why Not?” 140 U. Pa. L Rev. 1147, 1183 (1992).Google Scholar

23 Cross, 70 Tex. L. Rev. 665-66 (cited in note 3).Google Scholar

24 Id ar 663-66.Google Scholar

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31 Murphy et al, 106 Q.J. Economics. Google Scholar

32 Magee et al., “Invisible Foot” (cited in note 2).Google Scholar

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35 Chicago: American Bar Foundation, 1963, 1983.Google Scholar

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37 Robert Brown, “A Lawyer by Any Other Name: Legal Advisors in Japan,” in Legal Aspects of Doing Business in Japan, 1983 (New York: Practising Law Institute, 1983).Google Scholar

38 Magee, et al, “Invisible Foot.”Google Scholar

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40 Pedersen, “Lawyers in Politics” at 29 (cited in note 18).Google Scholar

41 Id at 47–48.Google Scholar

42 Comparisons based on id, tables 2.1 and 2.4.Google Scholar

43 Magee et al., “Invisible Foot”; Datta & Nugent, 14 World Dev.; and Magee, “Cross-national Estimates.”Google Scholar

44 Magee et al., “Invisible Foot.”Google Scholar

45 Cross, 70 Tex. L Rev. at 669, makes a similar point.Google Scholar

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48 Rhyne, Charles S., ed., Law and Judicial Systems of Nations (Washington: World Peace through Law Center, 1978).Google Scholar

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50 I could find lawyer figures in Id for only 23 countries in my 40-country sample; I have no idea how Magee found complete data for his 54-country sample or whether hesupplemented the 1978 figures with lawyer figures from other sources or other years.Google Scholar

51 Magee, “Cross-national Estimates,” table 1.Google Scholar

52 Id. Google Scholar

53 Id., table 1.Google Scholar

54 Id. at 13.Google Scholar

55 There are two substantial differences between our two figures. In Magee's, Uruguay appears near Chile, with a high lawyer/white-collar ratio and a low economic growth rate; that placement appears to be an error, because the lawyer/white-collar ratio in Uruguay is, in fact, relatively low. Similarly, in Magee's figure, Malaysia is shown as having a relatively low economic growth rate, which is an error.Google Scholar

56 Magee, “Cross-national Estimates.” table l, cols. 6 & 7.Google Scholar

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59 Cross, 70 Texas L Rev. (cited in note 3); Magee, “Cross-national Estimates.” Cross defines white-collar workers as including all those employed in finance, real estate, and services, while Magee defines the category as including only professional and technical workers.Google Scholar

60 International Labour Organisation, Year Book of Labour Statistics (Geneva, Switzerland: ILO, 1973, 1976).Google Scholar

61 Laband & Sophocleus, 58 Pub. Choice (cited in note 2).Google Scholar

62 Figures calculated from American Bar Association, Annual Report of the AmericanBar Association, 1961, and 1981 (Chicago: ABA), and Curran, Barbara A., The Lawyer Statistical Report: A Statistical Profile of the U.S. Legal Profession in the 1980s (Chicago: American Bar Foundation, 1985).Google Scholar

63 Lawyer data taken from Marc Galanter, “Debased Debate” (cited in note 36). Those data include lawyer population figures for some countries that are the same as those Magee used in his research; but for other countries, the Galanter data correct for flaws inthe Magee data by taking into account differences in the definition of lawyer among countries and correcting other errors.Google Scholar

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67 Dara derived from U.S. Bureau of the Census, Cem of the Population, detailed reports for 1960, 1970, 1980.Google Scholar

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69 White-collar workers are defined here as workers in professional, technical, management, sales, and clerical positions; data derived from U.S. Census Bureau, Census of the Population, detailed reports for 1960, 1970, 1980.Google Scholar

70 Data from Vernon Renshaw, E.A. Trott, Jr., & Friedenberg, Howard L., “Gross State Product by Industry, 1963–1986,” 68 Survey Current Bus. 30 (May 1988).Google Scholar

71 Data for the first three variables from id; data for business services, less legal services, from U.S. Bureau of the Census, County Business Pattons for 1962, 1972, and 1982 (Washington: Government Printing Office).Google Scholar

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76 In Barrow's analysis (106 Q.J. Economics) the level of education significantly affects rate of economic growth; data for my analysis derived from U.S. Bureau of the CensusCem of the Population, detailed reports for 1960, 1970, 1980.Google Scholar

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79 I have removed Alaska and the District of Columbia from the entire analysis, because they are outliers with unusually high lawyer ratios that unjustifiably alter the estimates significantly.Google Scholar

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84 The analysis presented in table 5 excludes New Hampshire because of the unusually low proportion of lawyers in its legislature. If New Hampshire is included in the analysis, the negative association between the lawyer/legislator variable and economic growth approaches statistical significance. To conclude, based only on the case of New Hampshire, that lawyers in legislatures impair economic growth is unjustified.Google Scholar

85 President's Council (cited in note 1).Google Scholar

86 Wolf Heydebrand, “Government Litigation and National Policymaking From Roosevelt to Reagan,” 24 Law & Soc'y Rev. 477 (1990).Google Scholar

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89 Data from the Court Statistics Project, State Court Caseload Statistics: Annual Report 1990 (Williamsburg. Va.: National Center for State Courts in cooperation with the Conference of State Court Administrators, 1992). In a private communication, Bryan Ostrom of the Court Statistics Project has assured me that the data on tort filings for the 23 states are at least 90% complete for each of the states.Google Scholar

90 Cross, 70 Tex. L Rev. (cited in note 3).Google Scholar

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92 Data on per capita GNP growth are derived from constant dollar figures in the World Bank, World Tables (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991).Google Scholar

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96 Data on white-collar workers from the International Labour Organisation, Year Book of Labour Statistics (Geneva, Switzerland: ILO, 1983, 1984, 1985). Magee's alternative definition of white-collar workers, limited to professional and technical workers, defines the base so narrowly that it confounds the measure of lawyer populations with the measure of highly developed technical professions. The resulting ratio thus measures a lack of technical workers in some countries rather than measuring the size of the legal profession itself.Google Scholar

97 Data on GNP/Capita from the World Bank, World Tables, 1991; measured as a ratio to GNP, the US. lawyer population is not unusually large: it ranks 14th in my sample of countries.Google Scholar

98 That is the test for curvilinearity employed by Magee, “Cross-national Estimates.”Google Scholar

99 If Pakistan is included in the analysis, the positive association between the lawyer data and the economic growth data becomes statistically significant.Google Scholar

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102 Some changes in our legal system, particularly rising levels of case filing, increasing numbers of lawyers, and increasing levels of policy making by courts, appear to parallel developments in other countries, suggesting that the U.S. legal system is not a complete aberration as it is often portrayed. See Galanter, Marc, “Law Abounding: Legalisation around the North Atlantic,” 55 Rev, Mod L. 1 (1992); Volcansek, Mary L., “Politics, Courts and Judges in Western Europe” (presented at 1992 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago); Mauro Cappelletti, “Repudiating Montesquieu? The Expansion and Legitimacy of ‘Constitutional Justice,’“ 35 Catholic U.L Rev. 1 (1985); Kenneth Holland, ed., Judicial Activism in Comparative Perspective (New York: St. Martin's, 1991). Others disagree, emphasizing the greater legalization of the US. system. See, in particular, Kagan, Robert A., “Adversarial Legalism and American Government,” 10 J. Pol'y Analysis & Mgmt. 369 (1991).Google Scholar

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115 Marc Galanter, “The Legal Malaise: Or, Justice Observed,” 19 Law & Soc'y Rev. 537 (1985).Google Scholar