Professional Protectionists: The Gains From Free Trade in Highly Paid Professional Services

by Dean Baker

September 9, 2003

In fact, U.S. trade policy toward highly paid professional services has largely gone in the opposite direction in recent years, increasing barriers to foreign professionals. This is clearly the case with foreign doctors. In 1997, after the American Medical Association complained that the inflow of foreign doctors was depressing wages for doctors already in the country, a new set of restrictions on foreign medical residents was put in place

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Why no hysterical screams of “protectionism” about this? Health care costs are certainly a much more critical issue than STEM worker costs. Doctors often earn around $500K a year, while many scientists earn less than $50K a year. Yet the pop-media seems absolutely alarmist about the horrors of salaries for US STEM going up, even slightly; while protectionism in the health care field is ignored.