Tyler Cowen (; born January 21, 1962) is an American
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
, columnist and blogger. He is a professor at
George Mason University
George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...
, where he holds the Holbert L. Harris chair in the economics department. He hosts the economics
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
''Marginal Revolution'', together with co-author
Alex Tabarrok
Alexander Taghi Tabarrok (born November 11, 1966) is a Canadian-American economist. With Tyler Cowen, he co-authors the economics blog ''Marginal Revolution''. Tabarrok and Cowen have also ventured into online education with ''Marginal Revolutio ...
. Cowen and Tabarrok also maintain the website Marginal Revolution University, a venture in
online education
Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...
.
Cowen writes the "Economic Scene" column for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and since July 2016 has been a regular opinion columnist at ''
Bloomberg Opinion
Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar, and a ...
''. He also writes for such publications as ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'', ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'', ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' and the ''
Wilson Quarterly
''The Wilson Quarterly'' is a magazine published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. The magazine was founded in 1976 by Peter Braestrup and James H. Billington. It is noted for its nonpartisan, non-ideolo ...
''. He serves as general director of George Mason's
Mercatus Center
The Mercatus Center is an American Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. Located at George Mason University and directed by the American economist Tyler Cowen, the Mercatus Center works with ...
, a university
research center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
that focuses on the
market economy
A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ...
. Since 2015, he has hosted the podcast ''Conversations with Tyler''. In September, 2018, Tyler and his team at George Mason University launched Emergent Ventures, a grant and fellowship focused on "moon-shot" ideas.
He was ranked at number 72 among the "Top 100 Global Thinkers" in 2011 by ''
Foreign Policy Magazine
A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through mu ...
'' "for finding markets in everything". In a 2011 poll of experts by ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'', Cowen was included in the top 36 nominations of "which economists were most influential over the past decade".
Education and personal life
Cowen was raised in
Hillsdale, New Jersey
Hillsdale is a borough in the New York City metropolitan area in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 10,219,[Pascack Valley High School
Pascack Valley High School (PVHS) is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located in Hillsdale in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of two secondary schools in th ...]
. At 15, he became the youngest ever
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
state
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
champion. Cowen is of
Irish ancestry.
He graduated from
George Mason University
George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...
with a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree in
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
in 1983 and received his
PhD in economics from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1987 with his thesis titled ''Essays in the theory of welfare economics''. At Harvard, he was mentored by
game theorist
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...
Thomas Schelling
Thomas Crombie Schelling (April 14, 1921 – December 13, 2016) was an American economist and professor of foreign policy, national security, nuclear strategy, and arms control at the School of Public Policy at University of Maryland, College ...
, the 2005 recipient of the
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
. He is married to Natasha Cowen, a lawyer.
Writings
Culture
The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' has described Cowen as "a man who can talk about
Haitian voodoo
Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism. There is ...
flags,
Iranian cinema
The Cinema of Iran (Persian: سینمای ایران), also known as the Cinema of Persia, refers to the cinema and film industries in Iran which produce a variety of commercial films annually. Iranian art films have garnered international fame a ...
,
Hong Kong cuisine
Hong Kong cuisine is mainly influenced by Cantonese cuisine, European cuisines (especially British cuisine) and non-Cantonese Chinese cuisines (especially Hakka, Teochew, Hokkien and Shanghainese), as well as Japanese, Korean and Southeast As ...
,
Abstract Expressionism
Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
,
Zairian music and
Mexican folk art
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
with seemingly equal facility". One of Cowen's primary research interests is the economics of culture. He has written books on fame (''What Price Fame?''), art (''In Praise of Commercial Culture'') and cultural trade (''Creative Destruction: How Globalization Is Changing the World's Cultures''). In ''Markets and Cultural Voices'', he relays how
globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
is changing the world of three
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
amate
Amate ( es, amate from nah, āmatl ) is a type of bark paper that has been manufactured in Mexico since the precontact times. It was used primarily to create codices.
Amate paper was extensively produced and used for both communication, record ...
painters. Cowen argues that
free markets
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
change culture for the better, allowing them to evolve into something more people want. Other books include ''Public Goods and Market Failures'', ''The Theory of Market Failure'', ''Explorations in the New Monetary Economics'', ''Risk and Business Cycles'', ''Economic Welfare'' and ''New Theories of Market Failure''.
Books
![Tyler Cowen - The Great Stagnation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Tyler_Cowen_-_The_Great_Stagnation.jpg)
* ''Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World'', with Daniel Gross. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2022, , .
* ''Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 2019. , .
*
* .
* (
Wikipedia page)
* With Alex Tabarrok:
*
*
* ''The Age of the Infovore: Succeeding in the Information Economy (2010)''
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Explorations in the New Monetary Economics (1994)
*
''The New York Times'' columns
Cowen's ''New York Times'' columns cover a wide range of issues such as the 2008 financial crisis.
Dining guide
His dining guide for the
D.C. area, "Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide", has been written about by ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' and ''
Washington City Paper
The ''Washington City Paper'' is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial mix is focused ...
''.
Political philosophy
Cowen has written papers on political philosophy and ethics. He co-wrote a paper with philosopher
Derek Parfit
Derek Antony Parfit (; 11 December 1942 – 1 or 2 January 2017) was a British philosopher who specialised in personal identity, rationality, and ethics. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential moral philosophers of ...
arguing against the
social discount rate. In a 2006 paper, he argued that the
epistemic problem fails to refute
consequentialism
In ethical philosophy, consequentialism is a class of normative, teleological ethical theories that holds that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from a ...
.
Cowen has been described as a "
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
bargainer" who can influence practical policy making, yet he endorsed bank bailouts in his March 2, 2009 column in ''The New York Times''. In a 2007 article entitled "The Paradox of Libertarianism", Cowen argued that libertarians "should embrace a world with growing wealth, growing positive liberty, and yes, growing government. We don't have to favor the growth in government ''per se'', but we do need to recognize that sometimes it is a package deal".
In 2012,
David Brooks called Cowen "one of the most influential bloggers on the
right
Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...
", writing that he is among those who "start from broadly libertarian premises but do not apply them in a
doctrinaire
During the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830) and the July Monarchy (1830–1848), the Doctrinals (french: doctrinaires) were a group of French royalists who hoped to reconcile the monarchy with the French Revolution and power with liberty. Heade ...
way".
In an August, 2014 blog post, Cowen wrote: "Just to summarize, I generally favor much more immigration but not
open borders
An open border is a border that enables free movement of people (and often of goods) between jurisdictions with no restrictions on movement and is lacking substantive border control. A border may be an open border due to intentional legislation ...
, I am a
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
on most but not all
social issues
A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society and ones that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's cont ...
, and I am market-oriented on economic issues. On most current foreign policy issues I am genuinely agnostic as to what exactly we should do but skeptical that we are doing the right thing at the moment. I don't like voting for either party or for third parties".
In a 2020 New Year's Day Marginal Revolution post, Cowen outlined a philosophical framework he dubbed "State Capacity Libertarianism". State Capacity Libertarianism differs from
classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition
Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture.
Definition
Gabriel Almond defines it as "the particular patt ...
in that it acknowledges the State's role in funding and executing
megaprojects
A megaproject is an extremely large-scale investment project.
According to the ''Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management'', "Megaprojects are large-scale, complex ventures that typically cost $1 billion or more, take many years to develop and ...
and a non-isolationist foreign policy.
Cowen has described himself as a liberal on most social issues
and supports
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
. After the Supreme Court issued its holding regarding same-sex marriage, Cowen said that "this is exciting and very positive news. Most of all, it is a breakthrough for those people who can now marry, or exercise the choice not to marry".
Cowen is a
teetotaler
Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...
, stating he is "with the
Mormons
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
" on alcohol, later stating: "I encourage people to just completely, voluntarily abstain from alcohol and make it a
social norm
Social norms are shared standards of acceptance, acceptable behavior by groups. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into wikt:rule, rules and laws. Social normat ...
".
In July 2019, Cowen co-authored an essay in ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' with
Stripe co-founder
Patrick Collison
Patrick Collison (born 9 September 1988) is an Irish billionaire entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Stripe, which he started with his younger brother, John, in 2010. He won the 41st Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2005 a ...
calling for a "new science of progress".
''Conversations with Tyler''
''Conversations with Tyler'' is Cowen's podcast produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason. Unlike Marginal Revolution, ''Conversations'' is hosted by Cowen exclusively. Guests are usually authors and academics, but have also included athletes (
Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...
,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran.
Given name Karim
* Karim A ...
), military personnel (
Stanley A. McChrystal
Stanley Allen McChrystal (born August 14, 1954) is a retired United States Army general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 where his organization was credited with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarq ...
), entrepreneurs (
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born ) is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), o ...
,
Bryan Armstrong), novelists (
Emily St. John Mandel
Emily St. John Mandel (; born 1979) is a Canadian novelist and essayist. She has written six novels, including '' Station Eleven'' (2014) and '' The Glass Hotel'' (2020). ''Station Eleven'', which has been translated into 33 languages, has been ...
) and a homeless person from
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
named "Alexander the Grate".
The show has two recurring segments:
* "''Underrated/Overrated''", where guests are given a quick-fire list of cultural works or academic concepts and asked to say whether they agree with the general critical response received.
* ''The
uest nameProduction Function,'' where guests are asked to describe their personal productivity habits.
In describing the podcast, Cowen repeatedly characterises it as "...the conversation ''I'' want to have".
Publications
Selected journal articles
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Select articles
*
*
*
*
*
*
"The Lack of Wars May Be Hurting Economic Growth"- NYTimes, June 14, 2014
References
External links
Cowen's bioat the
Mercatus Center
The Mercatus Center is an American Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. Located at George Mason University and directed by the American economist Tyler Cowen, the Mercatus Center works with ...
Tyler Cowen's Web Page at GMUMarginal Revolution*
Conversations with Tyler*
*
ttps://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2007/07/whats_wrong_with_cuteonomics.cfm What's wrong with cute-o-nomics?Review of Naomi Klein's ''The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism''New York Books Review of ''Discover Your Inner Economist''*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowen, Tyler
1962 births
Living people
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American economists
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American economists
American male bloggers
American bloggers
American food writers
American libertarians
American people of Irish descent
American political writers
American social sciences writers
Cato Institute people
George Mason University alumni
George Mason University faculty
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Libertarian economists
The New York Times columnists
Pascack Valley High School alumni
People from Hillsdale, New Jersey
Mercatus Center
Economists from New Jersey
American podcasters