« Interest rate fact of the day | Main | Dani Rodrik has painted himself into a corner »
IM chat with Reason magazine and Nick Gillespie
Here is the link. The chat covered how economists should think about incentives, the proper scope of libertarianism, my book as "economics for the emotional," whether I have ever visited a prostitute, Natasha's biggest self-deception about me, underrated and overrated economists, and why New Jersey has produced so many libertarians.
Here is one excerpt:
reason (8:40:58 AM): ...what's the inner economist's most important message to congress (briefly)?
Cowen (8:42:17 AM): Humility would be a good start. Cut spending is another. Worry about nuclear proliferation. Institute greater accountability.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 10, 2007 at 01:14 PM in Books | Permalink
Comments
So what spending would you cut?
Posted by: Sam Boyd at Aug 10, 2007 2:20:38 PM
"whether I have ever visited a prostitute, Natasha's biggest self-deception about me,"
I assume these are intended to be two separate items. You might put something else between them to prevent the mistaken impression that the second item is merely a modifier of the first, which was the somewhat shocking impression I had on the first read...
Posted by: Doug at Aug 10, 2007 2:30:10 PM
Tyler,
I am all for you playing up the NJ connection. Despite my travels I still think it is the best place in the world for a mix of high/low culture, and the aggressiveness at which ideas (trivial and profound) are discussed. And it has the best pizza on the planet.
Pete
Posted by: Peter Boettke at Aug 10, 2007 2:51:48 PM
Tyler,
"any economist with a downward sloping demand curve, and opportunity cost, is underrated."
Yes, and it is truly unfortunate that some of the editors of top-tier academic journals IN ECONOMICS are doing some of this underrating. Fortunately, as you know EJW and blogs such as this provide forums where high-profile publications featuring upward sloping demand curves and/or free lunches can be assessed openly by, in your view (and mine), "underrated" economists.
Posted by: indiana jim at Aug 10, 2007 4:20:49 PM
Apropos of not this, have you seen this? Filipino prisoners dancing to "In the Navy", "Thriller", etc. as YouTube phenomenon and, increasingly, market in...something.
Posted by: Andromeda at Aug 10, 2007 7:33:32 PM
Humility would be a good start.
Good advice. And advice that I would direct to the GMU economics dept as well.
The extreme collective egomania that comes across on the web sometimes makes it hard to evaluate the underlying ideas.
Posted by: Bernard Yomtov at Aug 10, 2007 8:29:12 PM
"reason (8:52:06 AM): we'll talk more about the limits of knowledge in just a second. first, explain why you're such a lousy tipper. you counsel your readers not to go above 15 percent.
Cowen (8:52:51 AM): give the money away to somebody who really needs it. send it to Haiti! Any waiter working in the U.S. is doing pretty well in the broad scheme of things."
Disappointing! This squares with creating incentives, how? Please tell me I'm tired after a long week and this was sarcasm passingly lovingly over my head.
Posted by: Bill at Aug 10, 2007 8:46:27 PM
Can you capitalize the first letter of the first word in each sentence, id est as a majuscule?
It is an AIM chat, but have some decency and standards since you are a college professor.
Posted by: Mike at Aug 10, 2007 10:50:23 PM
Bernard Yomtov wrote: "Good advice [humility}. And advice that I would direct to the GMU economics dept as well. The extreme collective egomania that comes across on the web sometimes makes it hard to evaluate the underlying ideas."
Maybe Bernard need to have a little more self confidence or work on
his inferiority complex????
The folks at GMU are NOT idealogues and they seem willing to engage
all comers on the merits of the ideas; this makes them a real pain to
the real idealogues and networked academic old boys who underrate
economists who dare challenge their "innovations" with such primitives
as: evidence; downward sloping demand curves; and/or considerations of
opportunity cost. Long live the spirit of true debate that GMU is
fostering!
Posted by: indiana jim at Aug 11, 2007 9:52:32 PM
Indiana Jim,
Thanks for the free psychotherapy. Unfortunately, I'm not much interested in your opinions as to my psychological problems, so I'm just going to ignore it.
Suffice it to say that I do occasionally find the ideas presented here interesting, but that I am heavily put off by the general tone that suggests that the GMU econ dept is some rare collection of massive intellects. The mutual admiration and collective self-satisfaction gets more than a little heavy sometimes. I think it's overdone.
In fact, I have a suggestion. Maybe in his battle against bias Robin Hanson could address the problem of badly overrating one's friends and colleagues. Just an idea.
Posted by: Bernard Yomtov at Aug 11, 2007 10:40:03 PM
Bernard,
I offered you a look in the mirror, not psychobable. Your missed it;
too bad for you.
The tone, the tone, oh the tone of the GMU faulty oppresses me . . .
PPPLLLEEASE, get over yourself and focus on the ideas.
Of course the GMU faculty are proud of themselves; they have
engineered themselves as the epicenter of debate in economics. Since
economics is at its best when economists are arguing about ideas, they
deserve kudos, not carping about their self-confidence.
of
Posted by: Indiana jim at Aug 12, 2007 11:40:33 PM
For the non-professional-economist readers it may be helpful to calibrate the scale. On the scale of academic economist egos for people at serious (say, top 100) departments, Tyler is probably a bit (but not a lot) above average, Alex a bit below average.
So, if you want to complain about GMU economics, this is probably not the most telling avenue.
Jeff
Posted by: Jeff Smith at Aug 13, 2007 9:05:04 AM
Nick, I read your article about Larry Craig and find your reasoning ability fatally flawed.
No one, heterosexual or homosexual should be soliciting sex from anyone in a public place. We have laws for a reason and apparently you think we should all do whatever we want no matter who is affected.
I'm a registered non-partisan voter and have no love for most Republicans in Congress, but not for the same reasons you revile them.
You contribute to 'Reason' magazine? Give me a break.
Posted by: Christie at Aug 29, 2007 12:15:40 PM
Nick, I read your article about Larry Craig and find your reasoning ability fatally flawed.
No one, heterosexual or homosexual should be soliciting sex from anyone in a public place. We have laws for a reason and apparently you think we should all do whatever we want no matter who is affected.
I'm a registered non-partisan voter and have no love for most Republicans in Congress, but not for the same reasons you revile them.
You contribute to 'Reason' magazine? Give me a break.
Posted by: Christie at Aug 29, 2007 12:16:44 PM
Hi Best wishes。Allow me to offer my heartiest wishes.xicao loves-流水线娱乐博客常年提供高、中、低压锅炉钢管、流体钢管、结构钢管、化肥专用钢管、石油裂化钢管、地质钢管、液压支柱钢管及合金钢管-无缝管-无缝钢管等论文发表资讯/刊物信息，协助客户制定论文发表方案
Posted by: 无缝管 at Nov 13, 2007 8:27:36 PM
aion gold
aion money
cheap aion gold
cheap aion money
buy aion gold
Mabinogi online gold
Mabinogi gold
buy Mabinogi gold
cheap Mabinogi gold
Mabinogi money
2moons dil
2moons gold
buy 2moons dil
2moons dil
cheap 2moons dil
flyff gold
flyff penya
flyff money
buy flyff penya
cheap flyff penya
cheap flyff gold
Dofus kamas
buy Dofus kamas
cheap kamas
Dofus kama
Dofus gold
Dofus money
Knight online gold
Knight Gold
Knight Noah
Knight online Noah
Posted by: aion at Jul 14, 2009 2:49:49 AM
