&gt; So I don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s &quot;rent seeking&quot; that&#x27;s responsible for this.<p>It totally is.<p>The AMA get to accredit, or not, medical schools.  They also get to set rules for doctors with non-US training to be able to practice in the US.<p>The result is that the number of medical school slots has historically not remotely kept pace with population growth, while doctors from other countries face a pretty uphill battle unless they go to medical school in the US.  The net result is artificial limits on the number of doctors who graduate from medical school.<p>This has several effects, of which the most important are the insane hours demanded from medical residents (and all the errors they make as a result) and the high pay of doctors.  This last provides the incentive for the AMA to not increase the number of available medical school slots and leads to the observed differences in the income doctors get in the US and elsewhere.<p>Of course, in the wake of new rules to limit the insanity of medical resident hours the number of medical school slots in the US went up by 30% or so in the last 6 years.  We&#x27;ll see what that does to salaries going forward, but I&#x27;m pretty sure the effect will be downward salary pressure.