How I Write

Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, on The Story of Marginal Revolution

Aug 23, 2023

Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, co-founders of the Marginal Revolution blog, share insights from two decades of economic commentary. They discuss their contrasts in writing approaches and the intrinsic joy that fuels impactful content creation. The duo reflects on how diverse topics, including popular culture, engage audiences more effectively. They also emphasize the evolution of education through their platform, highlighting the transformative power of self-publishing and technology in making economics accessible, especially in places like India.

01:06:57

Creator website

Episode guests

Tyler Cowen

Alex Tabarrok

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Highlights

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Teaching economics to a broader audience is a key mission, achieved through initiatives like Marginal Revolution University.

Drawing inspiration from TV shows, the hosts aim to create engaging and serial content on their blog.

Being interesting, timely, and capturing readers' attention is crucial for maintaining readership in the ever-changing news cycle.

Deep dives

Teaching Economics to a Wide Audience

The podcast discusses the importance of spreading good economic ideas to a broader audience. The hosts believe that most of the world has yet to fully embrace economic principles, and they aim to teach people how to think about economics and different issues. They have seen success in this endeavor through initiatives like Marginal Revolution University, where students have been reading their works since a young age and now pursue PhDs. The hosts consider it a core project to show people how to live an infivore life, focusing on economics while embodying their own version and encouraging others to iterate against it.

Amplifying Good Ideas and the Importance of Editing

00:48

Living the Life of an Infivore with a Focus on Economics

01:13

The Economics of Patents and Innovation

01:07

The Importance of Being True to Yourself

00:50

Intro

2min

Finding Joy in Writing for Impact

2min

Engaging Audiences Through Diverse Topics

2min

Transforming Education: From Experiment to Global Reach

14min

The Art of Writing and Collaboration

20min

Exploring Underrated Insights and Fond Memories

4min

The Evolution of Writing and Blogging

20min

Inspiring Academic Perspectives and the Power of Online Ideas

3min

For the past 20 years, they have run the world’s largest economics blog. This is the story of how they publish every day, generate ideas when they’re stuck, and plan to teach millions of people the basics of supply & demand.

Tyler and Alex's newsletter: https://marginalrevolution.com/

Tyler's website: https://tylercowen.com/

Tyler's Twitter: https://twitter.com/tylercowen

Alex's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ATabarrok

Alex's website: https://alextabarrok.com/

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