Tyler Cowen

Economist at George Mason University, prolific author, and one of the most widely read public intellectuals in economics and culture. Co-authors Marginal Revolution, one of the most influential economics blogs.

Influences & Inspirations

Based on primary sources — interviews, essays, and posts where Tyler directly cited these thinkers as influences.

Derek Parfit
"By far the biggest impression" among philosophers he read.
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W.V.O. Quine
"Remains a major influence, including on how he thinks about blog posts."
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Peter Thiel
Called "thinker number one" for understanding American society.
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Walter Grinder
"Very important" mentor who modeled a life devoted to reading and ideas.
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Israel Kirzner
Attended his NYU Austrian economics seminars as a high schooler; described as "fantastic."
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Recommended By

Writers who vouch for Tyler.

Tyler CowenPatrick Collison

Key Works

Recent Articles

The excess pessimism of early nuclear bomb designers
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 8d ago
Economic Scenarios for Transformative AI
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 10d ago
Will new transportation technologies increase urban density?
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 12d ago
More optimistic results on AI and job markets
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 19d ago
Overreaching causal language in the social sciences
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 25d ago
Some fertility and AI forecasts
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 1mo ago
How well does AI peer review work?
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 1mo ago
New results on AI mental health therapists
Marginal Revolution · Bio · 4mo ago
The collapse of teen fertility in the digital era
Marginal Revolution · Bio · 4mo ago
The economics of H-1B immigration
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 1mo ago
How does the market regard stablecoins?
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 1mo ago
Data on Chinese innovation
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 1mo ago
Reforms to the PhD?
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 1mo ago
The Decline in the Transmission of Scientific Ideas
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 1mo ago
Alec Stapp on the new Science report from Michael Kratsios
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 2mo ago
The economic effects of GLP-1s
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 2mo ago
Governing agentic AI
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 2mo ago
That was then, this is now
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 2mo ago
Progress against dementia
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 2mo ago
Prediction markets paragraphs to ponder
Marginal Revolution · Finance · 2mo ago