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Tyler Cowen

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Tyler Cowen
BornJanuary 21, 1962
NationalityAmerican
Academic career
FieldCulture
School or
tradition		Neoclassical economics
InfluencesChicago School
Thomas Schelling

Tyler Cowen (Template:Pron-en; born January 21, 1962) is an American economist, academic, and writer. He occupies the Holbert C. Harris Chair of economics as a professor at George Mason University and is co-author, with Alex Tabarrok, of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution. He currently writes the "Economic Scene" column for the New York Times, and he also writes for such publications as The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Newsweek, and The Wilson Quarterly. Cowen is also general director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. In February 2011, Cowen received a nomination as one of the most influential economists in the last decade through a survey by the Economist.[1]

Education

Cowen was born on 21 January 1962. At the age of 15, Cowen became the youngest ever New Jersey State chess champion.[2][3] Cowen graduated from George Mason University with a B.S. in economics in 1983 and received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 1987. At Harvard, he was mentored by game theorist Thomas Schelling, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Writings

Culture

The LA Times has described Cowen as "a man who can talk about Haitian voodoo flags, Iranian cinema, Hong Kong cuisine, Abstract Expressionism, Zairian music and Mexican folk art with seemingly equal facility".[4] 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 is changing the world of three Mexican amate painters. 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.

Recent Books

Cowen's latest book, The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History,Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better is a short 15,000 word take on the US's recent economic trajectory and was released only in electronic format in January 2011. Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World (ISBN 978-0-525-95123-0) was released in July 2009 (and rereleased in 2010 with the new title The Age of the Infovore: Succeeding in the Information Economy) and received favorable reviews from critics including Matthew Yglesias and Tim Harford. His previous book Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist was published in 2007.

The Wall Street Journal's review presents Tyler Cowen as the next decade's Thomas Friedman for his ability to frame the dialogue.[5]

New York Times columns

Cowen's New York Times columns cover a wide range of issues, including such topical issues as the 2008 financial crisis, "Too Few Regulations? No, Just Ineffective Ones."

Dining guide

His dining guide for the D.C. area, "Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide", was reprinted in the Food section of The Washington Post.

Political philosophy

Cowen has written papers in political philosophy and ethics: for example, he co-wrote a paper with the philosopher Derek Parfit, arguing against the social discount rate.[6] A recent paper has argued that the epistemic problem fails to refute consequentialist forms of argument.[7] Cowen has been described as a "libertarian bargainer" - someone of moderate libertarian ideals who can influence practical policy making.[8] 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." His argument was subsequently criticized by Bryan Caplan,[9] Justin Raimondo,[10] Christopher Westley,[11] and Doug MacKenzie.[12] Cowen endorsed bailouts in a March 2, 2009 column in the New York Times.[13]

References

  1. ^ Economics' most influential people
  2. ^ Interview with the Former "Youngest New Jersey Chess Champion," Tyler Cowen
  3. ^ New Jersey State Champions 1946 – Present New Jersey State Chess Federation, Official Site
  4. ^ The joy of thinking globally, February 07, 2003, Daniel Akst, LA Times
  5. ^ http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/01/31/the-great-stagnation-low-hanging-fruit-and-americas-sputnik-moment/tab/print/
  6. ^ 'Against the social discount rate', 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.
  7. ^ The Epistemic Problem Does Not Refute Consequentialism, Tyler Cowen, Utilitas (2006), 18: 383-399
  8. ^ Klein, Daniel B. "Mere Libertarianism: Blending Hayek and Rothbard". Reason Papers. Vol. 27: Fall 2004.
  9. ^ EconLog, Worst Advice to Libertarians Ever?, Bryan Caplan: Library of Economics and Liberty
  10. ^ Libertarianism and the Great Divide- by Justin Raimondo
  11. ^ The Real Libertarian Paradox by Christopher Westley
  12. ^ Tyler's Paradox - Mises Economics Blog
  13. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/business/economy/01view.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=Cowen&st=cse
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