Ep 87: Dr. Cliff Winston - Deregulate Lawyers, Deregulate Airlines & Let Markets Correct Themselves

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Are government programs and interventions superior to market corrections? The truth is we don't know. Many economists obsess over market failures but seldom point the microscope in the direction of government, despite its many failures. And worse, the bureaucracy doesn't hold itself accountable.
This week, we examine some of the flaws of modern economic theories with Dr. Cliff Winston, a microeconomist and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, with a B.A. and Ph.D. in economics from UC Berkeley, and Masters from the London School of Economics. He is the author of numerous books and papers, including, most recently, “Indispensable: Market corrections in a U.S. economy beset by government failures.”
From antitrust to welfare programs and tax incentives, most Americans assume government interventions are preferable to allowing the market to correct itself, but as Cliff explains, we don't have scholarly evidence to back that up. He explains why we need government retrospectives and more widespread experiments to test what does or doesn't work. When has government been effective? Ironically, Cliff says, when it gets out of the way: deregulation. We talk about the benefits of airline deregulation, for example, and Cliff makes the case for deregulating the legal profession and other areas that require occupational licensure. Finally, we discuss examples where government involvement could be beneficial, such as setting adoption standards for autonomous vehicles.
00:00 Episode Intro
03:10 Why economists obsess over market failure
07:38 Understanding government failure
14:31 No proof that antitrust helps
21:36 Deregulate lawyers
28:58 Driverless cars and proper government regulation

[@JDomanico-kd6is]

Excellent discussion, thank you both. I would love to hear Dr. Winston's take on the Jones Act and if there are any serious efforts out there to repeal it.

[@AmericanOptimist]

Great question! We should have asked that. Maybe we'll do an episode on that sometime.

[@RollingTree2]

Good stuff. One step toward minimizing gov might be fighting for more straightforward / transparent taxation and regulation costs. The majority of citizens intuitively perceive gov service as cheap or even free, largely because of cost opacity, and therefore lean to gov as the default solution to everything. Education in thinking deeper and rationally instead of intuitively is the fight from the other end of that front (ala UATX and Amer Optimist!). Your creative efforts on so many fronts is inspiring!

[@marcuseldenberg]

Congratulations on the sale of your business, Joe! I think that goverment is accomplishing its main goal.. making sure that it always has more work to do. Palantir and AI will be crutial in making goverment less bloated, more accountable and trasparent. That will hopefully shift it towards being a meritocracy instead of just mediocraty..

[@AmericanOptimist]

Thank you! Meritocracy over mediocrity - love it!

[@datanewt6938]

I think deregulation of the legal profession is the future. It will seep in along the edges. I think the BAR exam is no longer required in Washington State? Deregulated areas will prosper and everyone else will have to adapt or fall behind

[@Change_II]

This is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Why deregulation, especially of lawyers? So they can run worse of a muck, with zero accountability, than they now with tons of restrictions.