From commenter PTW:
One huge effect of these loans is that it distorts the subfields people choose in their profession - we have lots of bond lawyers (thanks for the example, Davis) instead of public service folks. We have lots of specialist doctors relative to the number of GP's. Twenty-something at non-profits typically come from money.
True. My understanding is that law school has a fair amount of loan forgiveness for public interest programs but medicine is all screwed up. Add in that America's health care system appears to follow a sort of Say's Law pattern (wherein supply drives demand rather than vice-versa), and you have a real problem. More surgeons means more surgeries, and the data is pretty clear that we've long ago hit the point of diminishing -- or negative -- returns on that. Maybe if we had an excess of general practitioners, we'd given preventive care more of a shot.
Update: Speaking of Say's Law and medicine, this old review is one of the better articles I've written.
