Inside the Mind of the Inner Economist
"Cult hero" economist and blogger Tyler Cowen on his hot new book, his love of organ meats, effecting "marginal revolutions," and why New Jersey breeds so many libertarians (with a very small l).
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reason (8:40:58 AM): i was afraid you were going to say that you bought low and sold high. 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.
reason (8:42:28 AM): you write "delusion is one secret to a good marriage." what is your wife's biggest delusion about you?
Cowen (8:42:54 AM): Let me ask her right now...
"If it's a delusion, how would I know about it?" she says.
I would say her biggest delusion is that she pretends not to know what her biggest delusion is.
reason (8:44:31 AM): there's an old song by the modern lovers that goes, "pablo picasso was never called an asshole." yet many of the people who collect his work are. that is, they don't really care about the work itself. rather, they care about the status owning it may signal or confer. is there anything wrong with that?
you're a collector. what are the inner economist's rules to collecting art?
Cowen (8:45:36 AM): I don't think there is anything wrong with buying art for status. And a lot of so-called status-buying is really buying for self-image, not just or mainly to impress the neighbors. We all identify with something or other. what's wrong with identifying with Picasso? I'd love to own a print from the vollard series.
The rules depend what you buy. One big rule is to beware of fakes, and research what you are buying. Buy art for love, not for resale, it is hard to beat the market unless you have the eye of a genius. And specialize your collecting and get to know your area very, very well. Also: it's as much fun to collect something cheap as expensive, in most cases.
reason (8:46:40 AM): what does it mean that a picture's value changes dramatically if it is revealed to be a "fake"—or to have been painted with the help of a camera obscura or some other mechanical tool?
Cowen (8:47:56 AM): I don't think the value of Old Masters would fall if [David] Hockney's hypotheses (now mostly discredited) about how they were made were confirmed. But no one likes an outright fake. It reminds the buyer he was a fool, even if the apparent quality is high to the naked eye. This shows again that art is about self-image.
reason (8:47:52 AM): the key then is pleasure? finding something that expresses something about you that you enjoy doing?
Cowen (8:48:30 AM): key to what? happiness is not the only value. for instance, some people want to be a certain way, even if it doesn't make them happier.
reason (8:49:32 AM): you give rather unusual advice to restaurant-goers. i'll paraphrase it as being: buy the most disgusting thing on the menu, especially organ meats. are you in the pocket of the powerful organ-meat lobby? explain why you think it's a good idea.
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Cowen advises not to tip more than 15% AND to order the organ meats? Livin' dangerous.
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THE DIRTY JERZ REPRESENT
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"Given that this is reason, perhaps you pay him to smoke pot!"
Now that's below the belt! -
reason (8:55:55 AM): you love mises but didn't name your book "the inner praxeologist"...
Cowen (8:56:26 AM): my publisher advised against that idea.
Ah, economics humor.. -
Good interview! Nothing much to say beyond that.
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I grew up in, and am in, NJ right now. I can tell you there are not very many libertarians here, Big, small or half-small "L".
If there were, I wouldn't need to ask permissionf from the town or state every time I cut down a tree, dig a hole in my yard and I could pump my own gas.
The NJLP is essentially moribund, the NJ Republican Party is a rubber-room where NJ Democrats send their more disagreeable members.
The real conservatives are in the Conservative party, that has even less relevance than the LP does.
Libertarians in NJ? Nope, not here. -
Cowen advises not to tip more than 15% AND to order the organ meats? Livin' dangerous
Yes, he left out the third part of that, which is "never eat at the same restaurant twice." -
Fun interview.
Any reference to Jonathan Richmond and the Modern Lovers is AWESOME!!!!! -
Oh VM. You lose some cool points for calling him Richmond instead of Richman.
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*bites self on taint to Egyptian Reggae
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Notice the New Jersey libertarians they name fled at the soonest possible chance for better areas and DC.
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Nick, were you ever into Exodus?
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Bama, northern virginia and New Hampshire have more libertarians....the reasons? Mises Institute, George Mason and the Free State Project.
Enjoyed the interview. -
"Cowen advises not to tip more than 15% AND to order the organ meats? Livin' dangerous."
Not at all (at least with respect to the latter action). Weston Price's landmark studies found organ meats to be far more nutritious than other types of meat. -
Jason C,
Then you lose cool points too.
they were just called "The Modern Lovers" on that record. -
SIV is just the ol' Roadrunner.
This is, after all, the modern world.
:) -
Hey, I was just correcting the spelling of the name. I knew they were just Modern Lovers (there is no "The". The Modern Lovers is the name of the record). I do believe I win "pedant of the day".
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Jeez, how do they write so fast? Freaky
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Very nice interview!
Nick must have moved if there is grass to be cut.
What does paying for sex have to do with love?
Jeff -
THE DIRTY JERZ REPRESENT
Word up! -
There are no libertarians in NJ because we all have left. Another Jersey free-market guy: check out anxietycenter.com