Tyler Cowen on Harvard, the GOAT Economist, and Ending Stagnation

On this episode of Upstream, Erik sits down with Tyler Cowen to discuss Harvard, AI, Javier Milei's legacy, the value of non-legibility in talent spotting, and more. Upstream is sponsored by Shopify: shopify.com/torenberg for a $1/month trial period.
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LINKS
Read Tyler's new book for free: econgoat.ai/
Tyler's blog: marginalrevolution.com
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X / TWITTER:
@tylercowen (Tyler)
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
@upstream__pod
@turpentinemedia
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Intro
(01:58) Tyler's new book GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter?
(04:29) Javier Milei and dismantling bureaucracy
(08:00) Who is the GOAT economist?
(11:39) AI, economic growth, and fertility
(16:08) Sponsor | Shopify
(17:44) Policies for managing population decline
(27:54) Emergent Ventures & talent spotting
(31:09) The value of non-legibility
(32:35) Predictions about Harvard
(34:48) The Future of Higher Education
(36:55) How Twitter and Harvard are related
(39:32) How to think about group differences
(42:53) Bronze Age Pervert on Nietzsche and postliberalism
(45:55) Rawls's veil of ignorance
(47:29) Tyler on his career and legacy
(51:55) The future of the University of Austin
(56:08) Wrap
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Upstream is a production from Turpentine
Producer: Sam Kaufman
Editor: Michelle Poreh
For guest or sponsorship inquiries please contact [e-mail]
Music license:
6M14URTEICMNUR50

[@duvaughn5543]

I love Tyler. Kind and intrepid human.

[@vinaydebrou83]

Great questions Erik. Tyler with his flavor of clarity is a delight to listen to.

[@stephenmcbride2529]

Great stuff Erik. Tyler is a perennial favourite

[@kreek22]

I was more interested in population decline, quantitative and qualitative, 10 years ago than I am now. Biotech and AI advances have been fast enough in recent years that I no longer think population trends are predictable. Also, they may not matter at all, since I rate AI as likely to eliminate humans altogether within a few decades.
The value of non-legibility arises from a culture that has lost trust between individuals and seeks to compensate in bureaucratic fashion. This creates scleroticism, inflexibility, lost opportunities. Another reason for excessive legibility is the ever growing reach of the state, which includes a statist/fascist preference for large corporations. Large corporations are nearly as bureaucratic as government agencies: they understand each other and prefer each other's company. The agencies like that they can outsource control functions to these corporations; the corporations benefit from regulatory capture and rent-seeking assistance. This non-legibility issue is one area in which libertarian economists really add valuable insights.
Cowen underestimates how unhappy Americans are. They're not in a positive sum mood, for the most part. Their elite has never been so flagrantly contemptuous of the people and so grotesquely parasitic as they are now. Why he thinks things going well in places like Panama or Chile matters at all. They have very little human capital, ie, a low average IQ. The countries that matter are the core Western countries and the major East Asian countries and, possibly, India. In realist terms, the remainder simply do not matter for the human future. They cannot matter for lack of human talent.

[@aon10003]

But if the problem is overhead costs, then nothing you say will eork.

[@arrogantprickly]

I'm no Malthusian, but I don't get what the great danger of population decline is. Normally it would be difficult to support an aging population without a sufficient labor base, but we're entering the era of AI where the economic value of labor will approach zero.

[@maryleemackichan8711]

Only the value of intellectual labor (and pseudo-science) is approaching zero

[@FractalPrismGlass]

❤️✌️

[@OOCASHFLOW]

Bro come on.. this is great but we need to hear Tyler together with Noah too. Please get him on the other show

[@Aedonius]

FYI, Milei was an IMF World Bank plant. Argentina had the highest IMF Debt. They needed Argentina to get its spending under control so they could get paid. Mike Benz has covered this extensively.

[@foswa6335]

Didn’t he only suggest that he was a plant. I don’t believe he confirmed that he is a plant

[@da_revo5747]

Regardless, balancing the books is always a good thing