In a 2005 Washington Post article (“The road to riches is called K Street”), Jeffrey Birnbaum noted that there were 35,000 registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C., people whose primary job is asking the federal government for something.
A lobbyist who comes with long experience as an aide to a powerful politician will earn at least $200,000 per year. Many lobbyists (not all) are attempting to restrict trade in order to turn consumer surplus into producer surplus.
a. Let’s focus just on the lobbyists who are restricting trade. If the United States were to amend the Constitution to permanently ban all tariffs and trade restrictions, these lobbyists would lose their jobs, and they’d have to leave Washington
to get “real jobs.” Would this job change raise U.S. productivity or lower it?
b. Would most of these lobbyists likely earn more after the amendment was enacted or less?
c. How can you reconcile your answers to parts a and b?