Village Global Podcast

Greatest Hits: What Tyler Cowen Thinks About Basically Everything

Sep 21, 2021

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Is Redistribution Boosting Economic Growth?

Is Redistribution a Key to Long Term Growth?

What Is the Fundamental Crux of Disagreement You to Have?

How to Rebut Thekens Old Assertion That We Are All Dead

Occupy Wall Street

Why Would a Society in Which We Lived Within Our Means Work?

Why the United States Is Important?

Social Mobility

What's the Biggest Critique of Neoliberalism?

Is It Stability to Technology or Stability?

Is It a Good Idea to Rebrand?

Do You Think Compound Returns and Capitalism Will Work?

Look Up to NBA Players

Make America Great Again

What's Your Alternative Identity, Tyrone?

Is There a Disagreement About a System for Verifying Identity?

The Most Important Crusonia Plant We Have Is Good Institutions

Seeing the World More Through a Positive Sum Than a Zero Sum

If You Could Wave a Wand and Change Anything

Are You Short the Market?

The Rise of China and Africa's Development Prospects

Is the New York Nicks Going to Win the NBA?

I've a Complex Relationship With the N Vasa

Getting a Laderal Perspective on Management

Specialize as a Generalist?

Premature Optimization Is a Bad Idea

Is Itike Robin's Mote That He's Willing to Pursue Sort of Weirder Ideas With Quality Level That People Couldn't Match?

When to Out Horse or Defer Verse

01:01:41 • 3min

Is Rigorous Testing a Good Idea?

01:04:28 • 2min

Are We No Longer in the Great Stagnation?

01:06:53 • 2min

Relationship Advice - Can't You Unpack That?

01:09:16 • 2min

The Taler Cowin Advice for Picking a Romantic Partner

01:11:23 • 2min

What Does the Word Friend Mean to You?

01:13:01 • 2min

How Do You Know if You're Using Goole or Facebook or Amazon or Google Glass?

01:15:25 • 2min

The Future of Cryptocurrency?

01:17:50 • 3min

Are Economists Overconfident?

01:21:15 • 2min

Is There a Difference Between Experts and Experts?

01:22:55 • 2min

The Role of Academics in the World

01:24:39 • 2min

The Limits of Economic Logic

01:26:21 • 2min

Curb Your Enthusiasm by Larry David

01:28:09 • 2min

01:29:49 • 1min

Peter Teel, I Think Peter Is More Pessimistic Than I Am

01:31:17 • 4min

Is There a Difference Between Dave Remnick and Esra Kin Ezra?

01:34:52 • 4min

Ike O, Regionalist?

01:38:47 • 3min

I Love Stephen Pinker. He's an Amazing Guy.

01:41:31 • 5min

How Does That Make You Different From Your Colleagues?

01:46:31 • 5min

I Love Eric Weinstein, but I Don't Know Much About Him.

01:51:14 • 2min

I Don't Believe in Godless Religion, but I've Never Met Him.

01:53:03 • 3min

In this extended episode of Venture Stories, Erik interviews Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen), professor of economics at George Mason University. They discuss about a wide range of topics, including Tyler’s book Stubborn Attachments, the value of watching sports, travel, Bitcoin, the Knicks, and Effective Altruism — among many, many others.

Tyler explains why he has only two “stubborn attachments” — human rights and economic growth. He takes us through his argument that there’s a moral imperative for economic growth. He talks about why economic growth is the greatest force for good in the world, why redistribution isn’t as effective as Effective Altruists would like, and why we dramatically underestimate the effects of compounding. He discusses some of the reactions to the book and why he says he’s “poked the left in the eye and poked the right in the eye” with Stubborn Attachments.

They discuss the reasons for the extraordinary economic growth of East Asian countries and what kinds of lessons the West could take from those examples. Tyler talks about whether religion has an impact on economic growth and why inequality isn’t as big a deal as it’s made out to be.

Erik asks Tyler what he would do if he could wave a magic wand and change a number of entities, including the US healthcare system, the Knicks, and the Department of Education. Tyler tells Erik whether he would buy Bitcoin and gives his thoughts on central banking and Austrian economics. He also explains why travel is so valuable and why “at the margins people should be more like anthropologists.”

Erik asks Tyler where his views diverge from those of a number of prominent intellectuals, including Thomas Piketty, Russ Roberts, Ayn Rand, and Glen Weyl. Tyler explains why he suspects the environment in which someone grew up influences their thinking style.

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