Economist Tyler Cowen argues that classical economic models predicting free-market convergence have failed in much of Eastern Europe.
Insight
Cowen: Giving someone a book as a gift is slightly cruel
“If you give a book away, the danger is a person will read it just because it's a gift. Unless you think it's the book they should be reading. It's actually a slightly cruel act to give someone a book.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Cowen: Automation will widen income inequality while boosting consumption for the poor
“So the world will be a lot more productive because of automation and smart software, and this will give us a lot of consumer goods for free. So we'll have this super sharp divide between the rich and the poor in terms of income, but in terms of actual consumpt…”
Insight
Cowen: Rational individual choices for safety make society collectively worse off
“So a lot of these decisions to settle in and be safe and comfortable, they're individually rational. Like, it's good to be safe, right? Stress is, is, is a bad thing. But when our society collectively makes this decision, there are ways in which we're all wors…”
Insight
Cowen: America exhausted the low-hanging fruit of early industrial technologies
“We exhausted a lot of the low-hanging fruit from combining fossil fuels with powerful machines and electricity and communications, and that, that's all to the better, but we've now entered a world where people find it hard to imagine a future very different fr…”
Insight
Tyler Cowen: Complacent societies cannot survive indefinitely without restoring economic dynamism
“But that said, a country cannot remain complacent forever. And I argue that eventually, you know, something has to give, you need a way to pay the bills, you need dynamism again, and you start seeing disruptions in your complacent life.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Cowen: Autonomous vehicles could worsen road traffic congestion via errand trips
“Self-driving cars could make the problem worse, you know, because you'll send out your car or your vehicle on all kinds of errands. Oh, go to Whole Foods and pick me up some smoked salmon. I'm hungry. And there may be fewer people on the road, but the people t…”