Tyler Cowen

Tyler Cowen was born in 1962.⁠[1]

By his own account he was born and raised in New Jersey and learned to read at about three from his grandmother; at about ten he fell in love with chess while watching the Fischer–Spassky match on television, and at about thirteen he learned some Austrian economics at FEE.⁠[2]

By his own account he went to George Mason University in 1980.⁠[2]

He earned his undergraduate degree in economics there.⁠[3]

In 1987 he received his PhD from Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private research university in Massachusetts, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature in 1636 and named in 1639 for early benefactor John Harvard. Its principal campuses are in Cambridge and the Allston and Longwood neighborhoods of Boston. It includes Harvard College, graduate and professional schools, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Two governing boards share oversight. Alan M. Garber was president as of October 2026, and the endowment stood at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.Open the full entry with the dissertation “Essays in the Theory of Welfare Economics”, advised by Thomas Schelling.⁠[4]

He has taught at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, since 1989.⁠[5]

In August 2003 he and fellow George Mason economist Alex Tabarrok launched the blog Marginal Revolution, which has posted daily ever since.⁠[6]

In January 2011 Dutton published his e-book The Great Stagnation, which twice appeared on the New York Times e-book bestseller list. The same year, in an American Institute for Economic Research survey, academic economists ranked him 16th among their favorite economists under 60.⁠[5]

On September 5, 2012, he and Tabarrok announced on Marginal Revolution the creation of Marginal Revolution University, an online platform teaching economics through short videos, starting with a course on development economics.⁠[3]

The platform offers free, interactive courses in economics.⁠[7]

In 2013 Dutton published Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation, a follow-up to The Great Stagnation that discusses how computer algorithms and automation affect workers and the economy.⁠[8]

On February 28, 2017, St. Martin’s published The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream, which argues that Americans have grown overly complacent and are resisting economic changes that could improve the social order.⁠[9]

On July 17, 2018, he announced that the Mercatus Center would launch Emergent Ventures that fall, an incubator fellowship and grant program started with a $1 million grant from the Thiel Foundation to jumpstart high-risk, high-reward ideas.⁠[10]

The same year Stripe Press published Stubborn Attachments, in which he argues for putting economic growth at the center of moral theory because it alleviates misery, improves happiness and opportunity and lengthens lives.⁠[11]

In 2019 St. Martin’s Press published Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero.⁠[12]

The book makes an evidence-based case that big business in America is an important, probably the most important, contributor to Americans’ well-being.⁠[13]

On April 10, 2021, he appeared on episode 174 of the Lex Fridman Podcast, titled “Economic Growth and the Fight Against Conformity and Mediocrity”, discussing the American dream, capitalism, big business, China, universal basic income, Bitcoin and Ethereum, and contemporary art, among other topics.⁠[14]

In 2022 St. Martin’s Press published Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World, which he co-wrote with entrepreneur and investor Daniel Gross; the book grew out of conversations after the two met in 2018.⁠[15]

The book argues that identifying underrated talent gives a personal or organizational edge, and suggests asking candidates “What are the open tabs on your browser right now?” to learn about their interests and habits.⁠[16]

In fall 2023 he published GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter?, a manuscript of about 100,000 words made available in GPT-4 and Claude 2 so that readers can ask an AI chatbot to summarize chapters or answer questions; in spring 2024 he used it as the main text for his history of economic thought course.⁠[17]

As of October 2026 he holds the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University, serves as chairman and faculty director of the Mercatus Center, hosts the podcast Conversations with Tyler and writes a column for The Free Press.⁠[6]

X: Public account: https://x.com/tylercowen (opens in a new window)⁠[14]

Marginal Revolution: Official website: https://marginalrevolution.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[14]

Mercatus Center: Official website: https://www.mercatus.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[18]