Economics is in many ways just like engineering, it will tell you how things work and what is likely to happen if you change them.
Luckily, in genteel corners of the developed world we are usually sheltered from people who use violence to keep out competition. But it does not mean that people have not worked out other ways to keep competitors at bay.
Trade unions are an obvious example.The trade union is designed partly to bargain collectively, but partly to block too much entry into the profession.
Other professionals, like doctors, actuaries, accountants and lawyers manage to maintain high wages through other means than unionisation, erecting virtual "green belts" to make it hard for potential competitors to set up shop. Typical virtual green belts will include very long qualification periods and professional bodies that give their approval only to a certain number of candidates per year. Many of the organisations that are put forth to protect us from "unqualified" professionals in fact serve to maintain the high rates of the "qualified" to whom we are directed.
Small wonder that George Bernard Shaw said that the professions were "all conspiracies against the laity".
Economists come to similar conclusions today about "protectionist laws", which, protect privileged pressure groups at the expense of the rest of us in the developed world and the developing world alike. Billions of people could benefit from better economic policies. Millions are dying because of bad ones. Sometimes the logic of economics is so compelling that it's impossible for economists not to take a stand.
