:Tyler Cowen

Cowen was raised in Hillsdale, New Jersey{{Cite news |last=Rosenwald |first=Michael S. |date=May 13, 2010 |title=Tyler Cowen's appetite for ethnic food -- and answers about his life |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/12/AR2010051202637.html |work=The Washington Post}} and attended Pascack Valley High School.{{Cite web |date=September 12, 1976 |title=Chess |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/473473507/ |access-date=March 19, 2021 |website=The Ridgewood News |language=en-US |quote=Tyler Cowen, 14, of Hillsdale, a freshman at Pascack Valley High School, trounced Ruth Cardoso of Jersey City, the state's women's chess champion.}} At 15, he became the youngest ever New Jersey state chess champion.{{cite web |date=2006-09-08 |title=Interview with the Former "Youngest New Jersey Chess Champion," Tyler Cowen |url=http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/kenilworthian/2006/09/interview-with-former-youngest-new.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111085322/http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/kenilworthian/2006/09/interview-with-former-youngest-new.html |archive-date=November 11, 2007 |access-date=2012-06-30 |website=The Kenilworthian |publisher=}}[https://archive.today/20120711090647/http://njscf.org/?page_id=84 New Jersey State Champions 1946 – Present] New Jersey State Chess Federation, Official Site Cowen is of Irish ancestry.{{cite interview|last=Haidt|first=Jonathan|interviewer=Tyler Cowen|title=Jonathan Haidt on Morality, Politics, Disgust, and Intellectual Diversity on Campus (Ep. 8)|url=https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/a-conversation-with-jonathan-haidt-35f76604464a|publisher=Medium|date=March 28, 2016|access-date=August 26, 2019}}

He graduated from George Mason University with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics in 1983 and received his PhD in economics from Harvard University in 1987 with his thesis titled Essays in the theory of welfare economics. At Harvard, he was mentored by game theorist Thomas Schelling, the 2005 recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.

Cowen argues that free markets 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.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

Among other things, Cowen has researched 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 describes how globalization is changing the world of three Mexican amate painters.{{cite book |last=Cowen |first=Tyler |title=Markets and Cultural Voices |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2009}}

Cowen's New York Times columns cover a wide range of issues such as the 2008 financial crisis.[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/business/14view.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=tyler%20cowen&st=cse&oref=slogin&oref=slogin "Too Few Regulations? No, Just Ineffective Ones"].

His dining guide for the D.C. area, "Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide",[https://tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com/index.php/welcome/ "Tyler Cowen Ethnic Dining Guide"]. Cowen released the guide's [https://tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019_06_Tyler_Cowen_Food.pdf 31st edition] in 2019. has been written about by The Washington Post{{Cite news|last=III|first=Douglas Hanks|date=2001-06-20|title=The Lone Critic|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/2001/06/20/the-lone-critic/c7f033ad-2aee-49be-ac32-063c0520c20b/|access-date=2021-12-08|issn=0190-8286}} and Washington City Paper.{{Cite web|last=Carman|first=Tim|date=2009-01-30|title=Tyler Cowen Unleashes the Latest Edition of His Ethnic Dining Guide|url=http://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/370500/tyler-cowen-unleashes-the-latest-edition-of-his-ethnic-dining-guide/|access-date=2021-12-08|website=Washington City Paper|language=en-US}}

Since 2015, Cowen has hosted the podcast Conversations with Tyler.{{Cite web|url=https://conversationswithtyler.com/|title=Conversations with Tyler | Listen to Tyler Cowen's Official Podcast|website=conversationswithtyler.com}} He hosts the economics blog Marginal Revolution, together with co-author Alex Tabarrok. Cowen and Tabarrok also maintain the website Marginal Revolution University.{{Cite web |title=About MRU {{!}} Marginal Revolution University |url=https://learn.mru.org/about-us/ |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=learn.mru.org}}

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, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), military personnel (Stanley A. McChrystal), entrepreneurs (Mark Zuckerberg, Brian Armstrong), novelists (Emily St. John Mandel) and a homeless person from Washington, D.C. 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 [guest name] Production 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".{{Cite web |date=July 7, 2018 |title=Tyler Looks Back on 2019 (BONUS) |url=https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/tyler-looks-back-on-2019-bonus/ |access-date=2021-12-06 |website=conversationswithtyler.com}}{{Cite web |title=Tyler Cowen: Production Function |url=https://perell.com/podcast/tyler-cowen-production-function/ |access-date=2021-12-06 |website=David Perell |language=en-US}}

Cowen has written papers on political philosophy and ethics. He co-wrote a paper with philosopher Derek Parfit arguing against the social discount rate."Against the social discount rate" by Derek Parfit and Tyler Cowen, in Peter Laslett & James S. Fishkin (eds.) Justice between age groups and generations, Yale University Press: New Haven, 1992, pp. 144–161.{{ISBN?}} In a 2006 paper, he argued that the epistemic problem fails to refute consequentialism.[http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.357.2120&rep=rep1&type=pdf "The Epistemic Problem Does Not Refute Consequentialism"] by Tyler Cowen, Utilitas (2006), 18: 383–399, [https://web.archive.org/web/20210926182645/http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.357.2120&rep=rep1&type=pdf archived] 26 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine.

Cowen has been described as a "libertarian bargainer" who can influence practical policy making,Klein, Daniel B. "[http://www.ratio.se/pdf/wp/wp_dk_mere.pdf Mere Libertarianism: Blending Hayek and Rothbard] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529174751/http://www.ratio.se/pdf/wp/wp_dk_mere.pdf |date=May 29, 2008 }}". Reason Papers. Vol. 27: Fall 2004. yet he endorsed bank bailouts in his March 2, 2009 column in The New York Times.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/business/economy/01view.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=Cowen&st=cse | work=New York Times | first=Tyler | last=Cowen | title=Message to Regulators: Bank Fix Needed Quickly | date=March 1, 2009}} 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".[http://www.cato-unbound.org/2007/03/11/tyler-cowen/the-paradox-of-libertarianism/ "The Paradox of Libertarianism"].

In 2012, David Brooks called Cowen "one of the most influential bloggers on the right", writing that he is among those who "start from broadly libertarian premises but do not apply them in a doctrinaire way".{{cite news|last=Brooks|first=David|title=The Conservative Future|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/opinion/brooks-the-conservative-future.html?ref=davidbrooks&_r=2&|access-date=28 November 2012|newspaper=New York Times|date=2012-11-19}}

In an August, 2014 blog post, Cowen wrote: "Just to summarize, I generally favor much more immigration but not open borders, I am a liberal on most but not all social issues, 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".{{cite news |last=Cowen |first=Tyler |date=4 August 2014 |title=Matt Yglesias on Tyler Cowen |url=http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2014/08/matt-yglesias-on-tyler-cowen.html|newspaper=Marginal Revolution|access-date=24 March 2017 }}

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 libertarianism in that it acknowledges the state's role in funding and executing megaprojects and advocates a non-isolationist foreign policy.{{cite news |last=Cowen |first=Tyler |date=1 January 2020 |title=What libertarianism has become and will become – State Capacity Libertarianism |url=https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/01/what-libertarianism-has-become-and-will-become-state-capacity-libertarianism.html | newspaper=Marginal Revolution|access-date=17 October 2021 }}

Cowen has described himself as a liberal on most social issues and supports same-sex marriage.{{cite news |last=Cowen |first= Tyler |date=9 April 2009 |title=A Bayesian approach to legal gay marriage |url= https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/04/blogging-gay-marriage.html |newspaper= Marginal Revolution |access-date= 30 September 2018 }} After the Supreme Court issued its 2015 holding affirming the right of 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".{{cite news |last=Cowen |first= Tyler |date=26 June 2015 |title=Legal gay marriage |url= https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/06/legal-gay-marriage.html |newspaper= Marginal Revolution |access-date= 2 December 2018 }}

In July 2019, Cowen co-authored an essay in The Atlantic with Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison calling for a "new science of progress".{{Cite web |last1=Cowen |first1=Tyler |last2=Collison |first2=Patrick |date=2019-07-30 |title=We Need a New Science of Progress |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/we-need-new-science-progress/594946/ |access-date=2022-09-30 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}

In July 2023, Cowen joined "The Growth Commission", a non-partisan group convened by former UK prime minister Liz Truss to promote economic policies that promote growth.{{cite news | title=Liz Truss goes global with task force to revive sagging economy | newspaper=The Telegraph| date=July 2023| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/07/01/liz-truss-the-growth-commisson-economy| last1=Hazell| first1=Will}}

On Apr 28 2025, Cowen was appointed as a member of the Anthropic Economic Advisory Council, a newly formed body tasked with advising Anthropic on the economic implications of advanced artificial intelligence.{{Cite web |title=Introducing the Anthropic Economic Advisory Council |url=https://www.anthropic.com/news/introducing-the-anthropic-economic-advisory-council |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.anthropic.com |language=en}}

Cowen is a teetotaler, stating he is "with the Mormons" on alcohol,{{cite news |last=Cowen |first=Tyler |date=12 August 2017 |title=I'm with the Mormons on this one – how about you? |url=https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/08/im-mormons-one.html |access-date=27 October 2018 |newspaper=Marginal Revolution}} later stating: "I encourage people to just completely, voluntarily abstain from alcohol and make it a social norm".{{cite news |last=Cowen |first=Tyler |date=16 October 2018 |title=Rob Wiblin interviews Tyler on *Stubborn Attachments* |url=https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-cowen-robert-wiblin-stubborn-attachments-80000-hours-podcast-359aa62aa8ab |access-date=27 October 2018}}

• Scott Alexander
• Bryan Caplan

File: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, {{ISBN|978-1250275813}}, {{OCLC|1227086238}}.
• Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2019. {{ISBN|978-1250110541}}, {{OCLC|1031569569}}.
• {{cite book|title=Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals|year=2018|publisher=Stripe Press|isbn=978-1732265134}}
• {{cite book|title=The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream|year=2017|publisher=St. Martins Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1250108692|oclc=981982936}}.
• {{cite book|title=Average is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation|year=2013|publisher=Dutton Adult|

isbn=978-0525953739|pages=304|title-link=Average is Over}} (Wikipedia page)

• With Alex Tabarrok: {{cite book|title=Modern Principles of Economics|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781429274814|url-access=registration|year=2012|publisher=Worth Publishers|isbn=978-1429239974|pages=900|edition=2 }}
• {{cite book|title=An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies|url=https://archive.org/details/economistgetslun0000cowe|url-access=registration|year=2012|publisher=Dutton Adult|location=New York|isbn=978-0525952664|oclc=839314802}}
• {{cite book|title=The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All the Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better|year=2011|publisher=Dutton Adult|isbn=978-0525952718|title-link=The Great Stagnation |oclc=714718051}}
• The Age of the Infovore: Succeeding in the Information Economy (2010)
• {{cite book|title=Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World|year=2009|publisher=Dutton Adult|isbn=978-0525951230|url=https://archive.org/details/createyourowneco00cowe_0}}
• {{cite book|title=Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist|year=2007|publisher=Dutton Adult|isbn=978-0525950257|url=https://archive.org/details/discoveryourinne00cowe}}
• {{cite book|title=Good and Plenty: The Creative Successes of American Arts Funding|year=2006|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=978-0691120423|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISjsafTlM6sC}}
• {{cite book|title=Markets and Cultural Voices: Liberty vs. Power in the Lives of Mexican Amate Painters (Economics, Cognition, and Society)|year=2005|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0472068890|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zK6slb9fZykC}}
• {{cite book|title=Creative Destruction: How Globalization Is Changing the World's Cultures|year=2004|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=978-0691117836|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MpMSGL-rwa4C}}
• {{cite book|title=What Price Fame?|year=2002|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA|isbn=978-0674008090|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8-yXfKdMpxgC}}
• {{cite book|title=In Praise of Commercial Culture|year=2000|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA|isbn=978-0674001886|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADydOEGjQQgC}}
• {{cite book|title=Risk and Business Cycles: New and Old Austrian Perspectives|year=1998|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0415169196|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gOJhRL9EfdwC&q=tyler+cowen}}
• Explorations in the New Monetary Economics (1994)
• {{cite book|title=Public Goods and Market Failures: A Critical Examination|year=1991|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick, NJ|isbn=978-1560005704|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1IZuGvXxTMC|edition=2}}

• {{cite journal |title=An Economic and Rational Choice Approach to the Autism Spectrum and Human Neurodiversity |journal=GMU Working Paper in Economics |date=December 22, 2011 |volume=11 |issue=58 |ssrn=1975809 |last1=Cowen |first1=Tyler}}
• {{cite journal|title=The Microeconomics of Public Choice in Developing Economies: A Case Study of One Mexican Village| journal= The Annual Proceedings of the Wealth and Well-being of Nations|date=October 7, 2011|ssrn=1940219|last1=Cowen|first1=Tyler}}
• {{cite journal|author2=Alexander Tabarrok|title=An Economic Theory of Avant-Garde and Popular Art, or High and Low Culture|journal=Southern Economic Journal|date=October 2000|volume=67|issue=2|pages=232–253|jstor=1061469|doi=10.2307/1061469|last1=Cowen|first1=Tyler}}
• {{cite journal|author2=Amihai Glazer|author3=Katarina Zajc|title=Credibility May Require Discretion, Not Rules|journal=Journal of Public Economics|year=2000|volume=76|pages=295–306|url=http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publicchoice/faculty%20pages/Tyler/credibilitydiscretion.pdf|doi=10.1016/S0047-2727(99)00051-1|last1=Cowen|first1=Tyler|issue=2}}
• {{cite journal|title=Should the Central Bank Target CPI Futures?|journal=Journal of Money, Credit and Banking|date=August 1997|volume=29|issue=3|pages=275–285|url=http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publicchoice/faculty%20pages/Tyler/should%20central%20banks%20target%20CPI%20futures.pdf|doi=10.2307/2953693|last1=Cowen|first1=Tyler|jstor=2953693}}
• {{cite journal|author2=Daniel Sutter|title=Politics and the Pursuit of Fame|journal=Public Choice|year=1997|volume=93|pages=19–35|url=http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publicchoice/faculty%20pages/Tyler/politicsandpursuitoffame.PDF|doi=10.1023/A:1017939531594|last1=Cowen|first1=Tyler|s2cid=152467126}}
• {{cite journal|author2=Robin Grier|title=Do Artists Suffer From A Cost Disease?|journal=Rationality and Society|year=1996|volume=8|issue=1|pages=5–24|url=http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publicchoice/faculty%20pages/Tyler/cost-disease.PDF|doi=10.1177/104346396008001001|last1=Cowen|first1=T.|s2cid=153392382}}
• {{cite journal|author2=Amihai Glazer|title=More Monitoring Can Induce Less Effort|journal=Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization|year=1996|volume=30|pages=113–123|url=http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publicchoice/faculty%20pages/Tyler/moremonitoring.pdf|doi=10.1016/S0167-2681(96)00845-1|last1=Cowen|first1=Tyler}}
• {{cite journal|author2=Alexander Tabarrok|title=Good Grapes and Bad Lobsters: Applying the Alchian and Allen Theorem|journal=Economic Inquiry|date=April 1995|volume=33|pages=253–256|url=http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publicchoice/faculty%20pages/Tyler/goodgrapes.pdf|doi=10.1111/j.1465-7295.1995.tb01860.x|last1=Cowen|first1=Tyler|issue=2}}
• {{cite journal|author2=Randall Kroszner|author2-link=Randall Kroszner|title=Scottish Banking before 1845: A Model for Laissez-Faire?|journal=Journal of Money, Credit and Banking|date=May 1989|volume=21|issue=2|pages=221–231|jstor=1992370|doi=10.2307/1992370|last1=Cowen|first1=Tyler}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Cowen|first1=Tyler|author2=Richard Fink|title=Inconsistent Equilibrium Constructs: The Evenly Rotating Economy of Mises and Rothbard|journal=American Economic Review|date=September 1985|volume=75|issue=4|pages=866–869|jstor=1821365}}

• {{cite news|title=Two Prisms for Looking at China's Problems|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/business/two-ways-to-see-chinas-problems-economic-view.html?_r=1|newspaper=New York Times|date=11 August 2012|first=Tyler|last=Cowen}}
• {{cite news|title=Broken Trust Takes Time to Mend|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/business/broken-trust-takes-time-to-mend-economic-view.html|newspaper=New York Times|date=16 June 2012|first=Tyler|last=Cowen}}
• {{cite news|title=What Export-Oriented America Means|url=http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=1227|newspaper=The American Interest|date=May–June 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021035542/http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=1227|archive-date=October 21, 2013|df=mdy-all}}
• {{cite news|title=Six Rules for Dining Out|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/six-rules-for-dining-out/308929/|newspaper= The Atlantic |date=May 2012}}
• {{cite news|title=6 Ideas for the Ash Heap of History|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/28/6_ideas_for_the_ash_heap_of_history?page=full|access-date=12 September 2012|newspaper=Foreign Policy|date=28 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120816071546/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/28/6_ideas_for_the_ash_heap_of_history?page=full|archive-date=August 16, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}
• {{cite news|title=The Inequality That Matters|url=http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=907|newspaper=The American Interest|date=January–February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021035539/http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=907|archive-date=October 21, 2013|df=mdy-all}}
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/upshot/the-lack-of-major-wars-may-be-hurting-economic-growth.html "The Lack of Wars May Be Hurting Economic Growth"], NYTimes, June 14, 2014

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Tyler Cowen}}

• [http://mercatus.org/tyler-cowen Cowen's bio] at the Mercatus Center
• [https://publicchoice.gmu.edu/tylercowen Tyler Cowen's Web Page at GMU]
• [http://www.marginalrevolution.com Marginal Revolution]
• {{C-SPAN|49186}}
• [https://conversationswithtyler.com/ Conversations with Tyler]
• {{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Russ |title=Tyler Cowen Podcasts |url=http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/tyler_cowen/ |work=EconTalk |publisher=Library of Economics and Liberty |author-link=Russ Roberts}}
• {{Google Scholar id|9n44NA8AAAAJ}}
• {{Muckrack}}

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