Conversations with Tyler

When Balaji Srinivasan sat down for his conversation with Tyler he was the CEO of Earn.com. Today he is the CTO at Coinbase, which acquired his company in the intervening weeks (congrats Balaji!). But while his job title has changed, his passion remains the same: harnessing the power of the blockchain to launch a new generation of entrepreneurs, businesses, and entire markets. Balaji talks with Tyler about the potential of the blockchain and beyond, including how firewalls may become the new immigration policy tool, why drones are still underrated, the future of news and academia, what the Silicon Valley opener reveals about how America views the tech industry, and more. Conversations with Tyler fans - we want to hear from you! Fill out this quick survey to help us find other people like you who will love the show. Not only will you be helping us out, but you’ll also have the chance to win a special gift from Tyler: www.mercatus.org/survey Transcripts and links: https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-cowen-balaji-srinivasan-tech-bitcoin-crytocurrency-silicon-valley-management-b8db383c9cef More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

Is a written dialogue the best way to learn from philosopher Agnes Callard? If so, what does that say about philosophy? Is Plato’s Symposium about love or mere intoxication? If good people lived forever, would they be less bored than the bad people? Should we fear death? Is parenting undertheorized? Must philosophy rely on refutation? Should we read the classics? Is Jordan Peterson’s moralizing good? Should we take Socrates at his word? Is Hamlet a Cartesian? Are we all either Beethoven or Mozart people? How do we get ourselves to care about things we don’t yet care about?  To what should we aspire? Transcripts and links: https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/agnes-callard-tyler-cowen-philosophy-socrates-plato-literature-c70a73cd38eb Follow Agnes Callard: www.twitter.com/agnescallard More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

Martina Navratilova is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. No one has won more matches than her thanks to an astonishing 87 percent win rate in a long and dominant career. In their conversation, she and Tyler cover her illustrious tennis career, her experience defecting from Czechoslovakia and later becoming a dual citizen, the wage gap in tennis competition and commentary, gender stereotypes in sports, her work regimen and training schedule, technological progress in tennis, her need for speed, journaling and constant self-improvement, some of her most shocking realizations about American life, the best way to see East Africa, her struggle to get her children to put the dishes in the dishwasher, and more. Transcripts and links: https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/martina-navratilova-tyler-cowen-tennis-czechoslovakia-lgbt-73ee82582ad Follow Martina Navratilova: www.twitter.com/Martina More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

Chris Blattman’s made his career as a development economist by finding a place he likes and finding a reason to live there. Not a bad strategy considering the impact of the work he’s done in Liberia, Uganda, and most recently, Colombia. He joins Tyler to talk about what he’s learned from his work there, including the efficacy of cash transfers, the spread of violence and conflict, factory jobs as a social safety net, Botswana’s underappreciated growth miracle, Battlestar Galactica, standing desks, how to write papers with your spouse, and more. Transcripts and links: https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/chris-blattman-tyler-cowen-development-conflict-doing-whats-interesting-e0a4821a8d53 Follow Chris Blattman: www.twitter.com/cblatts More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

If intros aren’t about introductions, then what’s this here for? Is not including one a countersignal? Either way, you’ll enjoy this conversation — and that says a lot about you. This episode was recorded live at Mason for econ grad students. If you’re interested in learning economics with great professors like Robin and Tyler, check out these fellowships: https://asp.mercatus.org/features/now-accepting-applications-2018-2019-academic-year?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=CWTtranscript&utm_campaign=Hanson Transcripts and links: https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/robin-hanson-tyler-cowen-signaling-the-elephant-in-the-brain-e1444b69baa7 Follow Robin Hanson: www.twitter.com/robinhanson More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

Is Matt Levine a modern-day Horace? Like Matt, Horace has a preoccupation with wealth and the law. There’s a playful humor as he segues from topic to topic. An ability to read Latin. And many of Horace’s letters are about the length of a Bloomberg View column. QED, says Tyler. So Matt, the Latin teacher turned lawyer turned investment banker turned finance writer, recently joined Tyler for a conversation on Horace and more, including cryptocurrencies, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Nabakov, New York, Uber, financial regulation, market volatility, M&A, whether finance is nerdy, and why panic is central to the Matt Levine production function. Transcripts and links: www.medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/matt-levine-tyler-cowen-finance-bitcoin-19e380b7430 Follow Matt Levine: www.twitter.com/matt_levine More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

At the beginning of their conversation, Tyler dubs Charles C. Mann a tlamatini, or ‘he who knows things.’ And oh, the things he knows, effortlessly weaving together, history, anthropology, economics, and a half-dozen other disciplines into enthralling writing. And the latest book, *The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World*, is no exception, which Tyler calls one of the best overall frameworks for thinking about environmentalism and the limits to growth. In the course of their chat, Tyler and Charles cover pollution, why the environmental impact of beef might be overstated, what fixed factor might ultimately constrain growth (and if there is one), Jared Diamond and Bjorn Lomberg, the underrated political genius of Cortes, his top tip for appreciating Robert Frost, and why Andrew Jackson didn’t have to be such a jerk. Transcripts and links: https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-cowen-charles-mann-environment-agriculture-engineering-621327588c64 Follow Charles C. Mann: www.twitter.com/CharlesCMann More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

Last year, Tyler asked his readers “What Is the Strongest Argument for the Existence of God?” and followed up a few days later with a post outlining why he doesn’t believe in God. New York Times columnist Ross Douthat accepted the implicit challenge, responding to the second post in dialogic form and arguing that theism warrants further consideration.  This in-person dialogue starts along similar lines, covering Douthat’s views on religion and theology, but then moves on to more earth-bound concerns, such as his stance on cats, The Wire vs The Sopranos, why Watership Down is the best modern novel for understanding politics, eating tofu before it was cool, journalism as a trade, why he’s open to weird ideas, the importance of Sam’s Club Republicans, the specter of a Buterlian Jihad, and more. Transcripts and links: https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/ross-douthat-tyler-cowen-religion-catholicism-narrative-7721eb7b028b Follow Ross Douthat: www.twitter.com/DouthatNYT More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

Before writing a single word of his new book Artemis, Andy Weir worked out the economics of a lunar colony. Without the economics, how could the story hew to the hard sci-fi style Weir cornered the market on with The Martian? And, more importantly, how else can Tyler find out much a Cantonese meal would run him on the moon?  In addition to these important questions of lunar economics, Andy and Tyler talk about the technophobic trend in science fiction, private space efforts, seasteading, cryptocurrencies, the value of a human life, the outdated Outer Space Treaty, stories based on rebellion vs. cooperation, Heinlein, Asimov, Weir’s favorite episode of Star Trek, and the formula for finding someone else when stranded on a lonely planet. Transcripts and links: www.medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-cowen-andy-weir-artemis-the-martian-7087b6873260 Follow Andy Weir: Twitter: www.twitter.com/andyweirauthor More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

Tyler thinks Douglas Irwin has just released the best history of American trade policy ever written. So for this conversation Tyler went easy on Doug, asking softball questions like: Have tariffs ever driven growth? What trade exceptions should there be for national security, or cultural reasons? In an era of low tariffs, what margins matter most for trade liberalization? Do investor arbitration panels override national sovereignty? And, what’s the connection between free trade and world peace? They also discuss the revolution as America’s Brexit, why NAFTA is an ‘effing great’ trade agreement, Jagdish Bhagwati’s key influence on Doug, the protectionist bent of the Boston Tea Party, the future of the WTO, Trump, China, the Chicago School, and what’s rotten in the state of New Hampshire. Transcripts and links: www.medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/doug-irwin-tyler-cowen-clashing-over-commerce-a-history-of-us-trade-policy-29bc5fe3ad21 Follow Doug Irwin: Twitter: www.twitter.com/D_A_Irwin More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

Sujatha Gidla was an untouchable in India, but moved to the United States at the age of 26 and is now the first Indian woman to be employed as a conductor on the New York City Subway. In her memoir Ants Among Elephants, she explores the antiquities of her mother, her uncles, and other members of her family against modern India’s landscape. Through this book she redeemed the value of her family’s memories, understanding her family’s stories were not those of shame, but did reveal to the world the truth of India and its caste system. During her conversation with Tyler, they discuss the nature and persistence of caste, gender issues in India, her New York City lifestyle, religion, living in America versus living in India, Bob Dylan and Dalit music, American identity politics, the nature of Marxism, and why she left her job at the Bank of New York to become a New York City Subway conductor. Transcripts and links: www.medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/sujatha-gidla-ants-among-elephants-tyler-cowen-bd11b423ba91 Follow Sujatha Gidla: Twitter: www.twitter.com/gidla_sujatha More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

What happens when a liberal and a libertarian get together?  In the case of Steve Teles and Brink Lindsey, they write a book. And then Tyler separates them for a podcast interview about that book, prisoner’s dilemma style. How much inequality is due to bad policy? Is executive compensation to blame? How about higher education? And what’s the implicit theory of governance in Bojack Horseman? Tyler wants to know—and so do you. Transcripts and links: www.medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/steve-teles-brink-lindsey-captured-economy-tyler-cowen-3290440f97a0 More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

Legal writing was never Mary Roach’s thing. She describes that short-lived stint as an inscrutable “bringing forth of multisyllabic words.” Instead, she’s forged a career by letting curiosity lead the way. The result has been a series of successful books — Grunt, Gulp, Spook, Stiff, and Bonk among them— that all reveal a specific sense of nonsensibility (and love for monosyllabic titles). She joins Tyler Cowen for a conversation covering the full range of her curiosity, including fear, acclimating to grossness, chatting with the dead, freezing one’s head, why bedpans can kill you, sex robots, Freud, thinking like an astronaut, the proper way to eat a fry, and why there’s a Medicare reimbursement code for maggots. Transcript and links: www.medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/mary-roach-books-gulp-grunt-tyler-cowen-950a03328a12 Follow Mary Roach: Twitter: www.twitter.com/mary_roach More CWT goodness: Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

The economist, President Emeritus at Harvard University, and former Treasury Secretary joins Tyler to discuss innovation in higher education, Herman Melville, the Fed, Mexico, Russia, China, the Larry Summers production function, philanthropy and Larry’s table tennis adventure in the summer Jewish Olympics. Larry on Macro Musings: https://soundcloud.com/macro-musings/larrysummers Transcript and links: www.medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-cowen-larry-summers-blog-secular-stagnation-twitter-421a69ed84c8 Follow Larry Summers: Twitter: www.twitter.com/LHSummers Follow us on social: FB: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos Twitter: www.twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters

Though most know him first as a humor columnist, Dave Barry’s career has spanned many forms of media, including books, movies, TV, and music. Driving this relentless output, says Barry, is the constant worry he’ll find himself stuck in a rut — or worse — no longer funny. And do we even need professional comedians in an age where so many funny amateurs are readily available online? Tyler and Dave discuss all these topics and more, including the weirdness of Peter Pan, what makes Florida special, how it felt to teach Roger McQuinn a lick on the guitar, and why business writing is so terrible. Transcript and links: www.medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-cowen-dave-barry-books-blog-quotes-5ba317949bd8 Follow Dave Barry: Twitter: www.twitter.com/rayadverb Follow us on social: FB: www.facebook.com/cowenconvos Twitter: twitter.com/cowenconvos Email: www.mercatus.org/newsletters