What Tyler Cowen Thinks About Basically Everything

Published: Nov. 30, 2018, 1 p.m.

b'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\\u2019s book Stubborn Attachments, the value of watching sports, travel, Bitcoin, the Knicks, and Effective Altruism \\u2014 among many, many others.

Tyler explains why he has only two \\u201cstubborn attachments\\u201d \\u2014 human rights and economic growth. He takes us through his argument that there\\u2019s a moral imperative for economic growth. He talks about why economic growth is the greatest force for good in the world, why redistribution isn\\u2019t 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\\u2019s \\u201cpoked the left in the eye and poked the right in the eye\\u201d 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\\u2019t as big a deal as it\\u2019s 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 \\u201cat the margins people should be more like anthropologists.\\u201d

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.

Tyler\\u2019s own podcast Conversations with Tyler has been a big inspiration to Erik and Venture Stories, so Erik concludes with an homage with a round of overrated vs. underrated and by asking Tyler what his production function is for the podcast.

Thanks for listening \\u2014 if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.

Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.'