Lawyers, the economy, and society

Lawyers and litigation are often blamed for harming the United States econo my, and some empirical evidence purports to demonstrate this harm. A series of empirical tests are used to investigate the association to determine it s sensitivity and robustness. The tests show there ir; no material associat ion between lawyer numbers and the economy, once other variables are consid ered. Past associations are attributable, to reliance on a particular set o f data with some reliability problems. Breaking down the study into the com ponent parts of economic growth, such as investment or human resources, dem onstrates the lack of association. Moreover, there is no association betwee n tort litigation costs and economic growth among developed countries. Ther e is, how ever, a statistically significant association between lawyer numb ers and the level of political rights and freedoms in a nation.