Coté

I’m fascinated with Tyler Cowen. Here is Claude Sonnet 4.5’s deep research on his Tylerisms, I asked:

Tyler Cowen has many maxims, principles, and aphorisms. One is “Context is that which is scarce” another is “all food is ethnic food” (from his ethnic food website). Sometimes his blog posts bring with “those new service sector jobs.” He often asks the same questions in podcasts (there are transcript of all his Conversations with Tyler episodes), often about someone’s “production function,” how they work. He sometimes says he is giving a “Straussian reading” (meaning looking for the unsaid thing, often the opposite of what is being explicitly said). Anyhow, do a bunch of deep research, web searches, and draw from what you know to make a comprehensive list of these Tyler-isms. Include a link to the source (or just cortisone) and a one or two sentence explanation.

Tyler Cowen has developed a distinctive intellectual vocabulary over decades of blogging, podcasting, and writing. These “Tyler-isms” range from signature economic maxims to recurring blog post formats to characteristic interview questions. This comprehensive catalog identifies over 80 distinct Tyler-isms with exact phrases, source links, and explanations.

Core intellectual frameworks

These are Tyler’s most important meta-level concepts that shape how he thinks about everything.

Context is that which is scarce

Exact phrase: “Context is that which is scarce”

Sources: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/02/context-is-that-which-is-scarce-2.html and his book Create Your Own Economy

Meaning: In the modern information-rich world, raw ideas are abundant on Twitter and the internet, but deep background knowledge and contextual understanding are increasingly valuable and rare. Tyler explicitly notes that Marginal Revolution “is deliberately written to give you less than full context” as part of his strategy to attract sophisticated readers. “Context is that which is scarce” - Marginal REVOLUTION This has become his most famous intellectual maxim.

Straussian reading

Exact phrase: “Straussian reading” or “a Straussian interpretation”

Sources: Multiple Marginal Revolution posts including marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: An interpretive approach that looks for hidden meanings in texts beyond their explicit surface content, based on Leo Strauss’s idea that great thinkers often wrote esoterically—placing their most important ideas “between the lines.” Tyler uses this to suggest reading closely for subtext and deeper meanings. He describes it as “this passionate commitment to always try to read things at a deeper level.”

Mood affiliation

Exact phrase: “The fallacy of mood affiliation”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: People first choose a mood or emotional attitude (optimism, pessimism, cynicism), then find disparate views that match that mood and justify those views by the mood itself, rather than evaluating each claim on its merits. Tyler defines it as “one of the most underreported fallacies in human reasoning.”

Solve for the equilibrium

Exact phrase: “Solve for the equilibrium”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr… and many other posts

Meaning: Think through the full systemic effects and second-order consequences of any action or policy. Don’t just consider immediate effects but trace through to the stable state the system will reach after all adjustments. A shorthand for game-theoretic thinking about how systems respond.

Meta-rationality

Exact phrase: “Meta-rationality” or “being meta-rational”

Sources: tim.blog/2020/05/0… and academic paper with Robin Hanson

Meaning: Understanding how smart or well-informed you actually are in a given topic area. Meta-rational people know when to defer to experts, recognize the limits of their own knowledge, and avoid false certainty. Tyler learned this from chess: “You can’t lie about how well you’re doing, not in the medium term. You have a numerical rating, it’s pretty accurate.”

Cracking cultural codes

Exact phrase: “Cracking cultural codes”

Sources: perell.com/podcast/t… and marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: Developing the ability to understand diverse cultural domains—art, music, literature, foreign cultures, academic fields—by immersing oneself and learning their internal logic and standards of excellence. Tyler explains: “I figured the best way to understand culture was to try to understand or ‘crack’ as many cultural codes as possible.”

Cowen’s Three Laws

Exact phrase: Tyler Cowen’s Three Laws

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

The laws:

• First Law: “There is something wrong with everything” (you must find the flaws to understand an argument)
• Second Law: “There is a literature on everything”
• Third Law: “All propositions about real interest rates are wrong”

Meaning: These reflect Tyler’s epistemic humility and his belief that “you should not have too much confidence in your own judgment.”

State capacity libertarianism

Exact phrase: “State Capacity Libertarianism”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: A political philosophy combining free markets with an effective, competent government. Argues libertarians should favor a capable state that can provide essential infrastructure and maintain rule of law—while preserving individual freedom and market dynamism. Not traditional small-government libertarianism, but “smart government” libertarianism.

Blog writing patterns and recurring post formats

Tyler’s distinctive blogging style includes numerous recurring phrases and formats.

Those new service sector jobs

Exact phrase: “Those new service sector jobs”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr… and hundreds of other posts

Meaning: A recurring opening for posts about unusual, emerging, or niche occupations—from people being paid to fold laundry for AI training to professional butlers, pet detectives, and anti-drone falconers. Shows Tyler’s fascination with labor market evolution and bizarre employment niches.

Markets in everything

Exact phrase: “Markets in everything”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr… and hundreds of other posts

Meaning: One of Marginal Revolution’s longest-running themes/categories, highlighting unexpected or unusual market mechanisms. Used for everything from leg-lengthening surgery to burnt-out Soviet light bulbs. Reflects Tyler’s libertarian fascination with how markets emerge everywhere.

Sentences to ponder

Exact phrase: “Sentences to ponder” (often with modifiers like “China sentences to ponder” or “Robot sentences to ponder”)

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr… and daily posts

Meaning: Extremely common recurring post format where Tyler highlights interesting quotations or findings. His way of curating and sharing interesting empirical claims without extensive commentary.

[Day of week] assorted links

Exact phrase: “Monday assorted links,” “Tuesday assorted links,” etc.

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: Regular numbered lists of 6-7 links to articles, papers, and interesting findings. Posted almost daily with day-of-week labels. Tyler’s primary link-sharing format, with minimal commentary.

[Country/topic] fact of the day

Exact phrase: “Singapore fact of the day,” “UK fact of the day,” etc.

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: Recurring format highlighting a single striking statistic or fact about a country, place, or topic. Used for countries worldwide and specialized topics.

The culture that is [place]

Exact phrase: “The culture that is [place]”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: Recurring phrase pattern for posts about cultural or institutional peculiarities of places. Used for “The culture that is Germany,” “The culture that is Swiss edition,” etc. Highlights unique social and institutional characteristics.

What should I ask [person]?

Exact phrase: “What should I ask [person]?”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: Standard format before Conversations with Tyler interviews, where Tyler solicits question suggestions from readers. Shows his crowdsourcing approach to interview preparation.

Interesting throughout

Exact phrase: “Interesting throughout” or “the article is interesting throughout”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr… and many posts

Meaning: Tyler’s terse, characteristic endorsement of articles, papers, or content. Signals genuine recommendation without elaboration—one of his highest compliments.

Here is the full story / Here is more

Exact phrase: “Here is the full story” or “Here is more”

Meaning: Standard transitional phrase directing readers to source material. Reflects his curatorial style of excerpting interesting passages then pointing to the full piece.

Via the excellent [person’s name]

Exact phrase: “Via the excellent [person’s name]”

Meaning: Recurring attribution formula giving credit to sources, characteristically using “excellent” as his go-to compliment. Common examples: “Via the excellent Kevin Lewis,” “Via the excellent Samir Varma.”

Recommended

Exact phrase: “Recommended”

Meaning: Often appears as a standalone sentence to endorse books, articles, or content. Tyler’s minimalist seal of approval, sometimes combined with “interesting throughout.”

Self-recommending / Self-explanatory

Exact phrase: “Self-recommending” or “Self-explanatory”

Meaning: Used for books or topics that speak for themselves, trusting readers to understand why the topic is interesting without explanation.

My bet is

Exact phrase: “My bet is”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: Recurring phrase when making predictions or expressing probabilistic beliefs. Shows Tyler’s willingness to stake positions while maintaining epistemic humility.

Claims the article/essay/study

Exact phrase: “Claims the article” or “claims the essay”

Meaning: Common sourcing phrase showing epistemic caution—Tyler attributes claims to sources rather than stating them directly. Reflects his First Law (“there is something wrong with everything”).

I find this/that plausible / implausible

Exact phrase: “I find this plausible” or “I find that implausible”

Meaning: Recurring evaluative phrase expressing Tyler’s assessment of claims with characteristic hedging and epistemic humility.

Podcast and interviewing Tyler-isms

Tyler’s “Conversations with Tyler” podcast has developed its own set of recurring questions and frameworks.

What is your production function?

Exact variations:

• “What is your production function?”
• “How would you describe to us the [Guest Name] production function?”
• “What is it you do that you think other people maybe could learn from?”

Sources: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/… and scottrogowski.com/the-produ…

Meaning: Tyler’s most famous interview question, asking how successful people organize their creative work and generate output. A “production function” in economics explains how inputs become outputs. Tyler notes he deliberately asked this less frequently after 2022 because “if listeners like something too much, maybe you should move away from it. You get trapped or caught in your own memes a bit.”

Overrated or underrated

Exact format: Tyler names a person, concept, place, or trend and asks guests to rate it as “overrated” or “underrated”

Examples: “Saul Bellow—overrated or underrated?” or “The sabermetrics revolution in baseball—overrated or underrated?”

Sources: www.npr.org/2019/11/0… and multiple podcast episodes

Meaning: This framework forces guests to take a clear position and reveal their contrarian or conventional views. It became so popular that NPR’s The Indicator podcast “stole it (with his permission of course)” and regularly features Tyler playing the game.

What are you working on next?

Exact phrase: “What are you working on next?”

Sources: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/…

Meaning: Tyler almost always closes interviews by asking guests about their future projects. In his 2022 retrospective, he notes that “one of the things no one ever asks about is, what’s your next book or what’s your next project”—he believes this forward-looking question is underused by other interviewers.

What are the open tabs in your browser right now?

Exact phrase: “What are the open tabs in your browser right now?”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: This question (co-created with Daniel Gross for their book Talent) reveals demonstrated preferences rather than cheap talk. Tyler explains: “If you leave a browser tab open, it probably has some importance to you… It’s not just cheap talk.” It shows what someone actually does with their time and tests for enthusiasm.

How ambitious are you?

Exact phrase: “How ambitious are you?” or “How successful do you want to be?”

Sources: www.goodreads.com/work/quot… and www.npr.org/transcrip…

Meaning: This question, highlighted in Tyler’s book Talent, is difficult to fake and reveals important information about goals and self-evaluation. The response shows how people defend their ambitions and what they’re willing to admit publicly.

Which of your beliefs are you least rational about?

Exact phrase: “Which of your beliefs are you least rational about?” or “What views do you hold religiously, almost irrationally?”

Sources: www.npr.org/transcrip…

Meaning: A confessional question that works better in interviews because the distance created gives openings to ask revealing questions. Tyler’s own answer: “I’m inclined to think that the reports of what we used to call UFOs may actually represent some kind of contact with alien drone probes.”

Tyler’s interviewing philosophy quotes

Core belief: “It’s one of my core views. We should just study successful people more. Like how’d they do this?… Actually trying to figure out how they did it.”

On appreciation: “Appreciation is an underappreciated art and skill. These interviews are most of all about appreciation.”

On starting interviews: “I try to start with something super specific, something they’re shocked that I might know about them, and then just dig deeper.”

On making guests comfortable: “Being weird yourself relaxes the environment. It makes it non-threatening… Just signaling you’re not there to screw them over, that you want to be there to be weird with them.”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr… and tim.blog/2020/05/0…

Food and dining maxims

Tyler’s ethnic dining guide and food writing contain some of his most colorful maxims.

All food is ethnic food

Exact phrase: “All food is ethnic food”

Sources: tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com (official tagline) and Freakonomics Q&A

Meaning: The foundational principle of Tyler’s dining guide. Challenges the false distinction between “ethnic” and “regular” food, arguing that all cuisines come from somewhere and represent cultural traditions. No cuisine is truly authentic in an absolute sense.

Restaurants manifest the spirit of capitalist multiculturalism

Exact phrase: “Restaurants manifest the spirit of capitalist multiculturalism”

Sources: General Remarks section, Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide

Meaning: Captures Tyler’s view that restaurants are where entrepreneurship, international trade, migration, and cultural exchange all converge. They represent the productive intersection of capitalism and cultural diversity.

In the fanciest restaurants, order what sounds least appetizing

Exact phrase: “In the fanciest restaurants, order what sounds least appetizing”

Sources: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/… and tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com/six-rules-for-dining-out

Meaning: At fancy restaurants ($50+ per meal), if something sounds unappealing but made it onto the menu, there’s a compelling reason—it probably tastes especially good. Popular-sounding items can be below average quality because kitchen attention is scarce.

Order the ugly and order the unknown

Exact phrase: “Order the ugly and order the unknown”

Sources: An Economist Gets Lunch and multiple reviews

Meaning: Tyler’s compressed version of his contrarian ordering strategy. Don’t go for what’s familiar or sounds good—seek out the strange, unfamiliar, or even off-putting items for the most interesting and often best-prepared dishes.

Beware the beautiful, laughing women

Exact phrase: “Beware the beautiful, laughing women”

Sources: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/…

Meaning: If a restaurant is full of beautiful, trendy women, it signals the place prioritizes “the scene” over food quality. Men will come regardless of food quality, allowing the restaurant to cut corners. Such restaurants often excel in their first six months but decline afterward.

Get out of the city and into the strip mall

Exact phrase: “Get out of the city and into the strip mall”

Sources: The Atlantic “Six Rules” article

Meaning: High-rent urban areas force restaurants to focus on high volume and safe choices. Strip malls and suburbs—where immigrants actually live, work, and eat—offer better value and more authentic, experimental cuisine. Strip malls without big-box stores are especially promising.

Single restaurant representations of a cuisine tend to disappoint

Exact phrase: “Single restaurant representations of a cuisine tend to disappoint”

Sources: General Remarks, Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide

Meaning: Competition improves quality. When many restaurants of the same cuisine cluster in an area, they create educated consumers, trained workers, and ingredient supply chains. Look for geographic concentration.

Ask ‘What’s best?’ not ‘What should I get?’

Exact phrase: “Ask ‘What’s best?’ not ‘What should I get?’”

Sources: General Remarks, Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide

Meaning: At fancy restaurants, asking “What’s best?” forces the waiter to reveal knowledge and highlights the chef’s specialties. If the answer is “everything” or “it depends,” head for the door. However, in ethnic restaurants, asking what’s best often gets watered-down dishes “designed for gringos”—instead, look at what ethnic diners are eating.

Avoid dishes that are ‘ingredients-intensive.’ Go for dishes that are ‘composition-intensive.’

Exact phrase: “Avoid dishes that are ‘ingredients-intensive.’ Go for dishes that are ‘composition-intensive.’”

Sources: General Remarks, Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide and An Economist Gets Lunch

Meaning: Raw ingredients in America (vegetables, butter, bread, meats) are below world standards. Ordering a plain steak in Northern Virginia is usually a mistake. Instead, opt for dishes with sauces and complex mixes where American weaknesses matter less.

Ordering is often a more important decision than choosing the restaurant

Exact phrase: “Ordering is often a more important decision than choosing the restaurant”

Sources: General Remarks, Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide

Meaning: You can have a mediocre experience at a great restaurant by ordering wrong, or an excellent experience at a decent restaurant by ordering strategically.

Appetizers often are better than main courses

Exact phrase: “Appetizers often are better than main courses”

Sources: General Remarks, Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide

Meaning: Meals composed entirely of appetizers and side dishes can be very satisfying and often showcase better technique and creativity than main courses. Thai and Lebanese restaurants are classic examples.

Prefer Vietnamese to Thai / Prefer Pakistani to Indian

Exact phrase: “Prefer Vietnamese to Thai” and “Prefer Pakistani to Indian”

Sources: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/…

Meaning: Thai and Indian restaurants in America have become too Americanized to serve mass audiences. Vietnamese and Pakistani restaurants maintain more authenticity because they serve smaller, more demanding immigrant communities. Exception: “Eat at Thai restaurants attached to motels.”

It is often best when the people in a restaurant look a little serious or even downright grim

Exact phrase: “It is often best when the people in a restaurant look a little serious or even downright grim”

Sources: An Economist Gets Lunch and https://marginalrevolution.com

Meaning: At the very best restaurants (especially in Tokyo), diners are intensely focused on the food experience, not socializing. If people are laughing and having fun, they’re probably there to socialize rather than for serious food appreciation.

In many restaurants, it is a propitious omen when the diners are screaming at each other

Exact phrase: “In many restaurants, it is a propitious omen when the diners are screaming at each other”

Sources: The Atlantic article

Meaning: Signals regular customers who feel at home. Many Chinese restaurants are full of screaming Chinese patrons—Tyler doesn’t know if they’re fighting, but it’s a sign he wants to be there. Indicates authentic cuisine serving a community rather than tourists.

Know the ‘restaurant cycle’

Exact phrase: “Know the ‘restaurant cycle’”

Sources: General Remarks, Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide

Meaning: Fine dining restaurants have a shelf life. “First they cook for the critics, and it’s wonderful. They win awards and the word gets out. Then everyone starts to come and it becomes more mainstream. The chef is less concerned about developing a reputation and more about cooking for the masses.” Visit trendy restaurants in their first few months.

Food is a product of economic supply and demand

Exact phrase: “Food is a product of economic supply and demand, so try to figure out where the supplies are fresh, the suppliers are creative, and the demanders are informed”

Sources: An Economist Gets Lunch

Meaning: Tyler’s fundamental economic framework for food evaluation. Good food emerges from the intersection of fresh supplies, creative suppliers (chefs/restaurateurs), and informed, demanding customers.

Google something more specific

Exact phrase: “Google something more specific instead, like ‘best Indian restaurants Washington,’ even if you don’t want Indian food”

Sources: The Atlantic article

Meaning: Use “smart” words in search queries. “Best restaurants Washington” is a lowest-common-denominator search yielding bad results. Specific searches return better information from informed diners, even if you’re ultimately seeking a different cuisine.

In Manhattan, choose restaurants on the streets over those on the avenues

Exact phrase: “In Manhattan, choose restaurants on the streets over those on the avenues”

Sources: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/…

Meaning: Manhattan’s avenues have higher rents than streets. Lower rent means restaurants can focus on food quality rather than high volume. A specific application of his general principle about avoiding high-rent locations.

Book-specific concepts and principles

Tyler’s published books contain explicit maxims and principles.

The low-hanging fruit includes: free land, immigrant labor, and powerful new technologies

Exact phrase: “The low-hanging fruit includes: free land, immigrant labor, and powerful new technologies”

Book: The Great Stagnation (2011)

Sources: www.amazon.com/Great-Sta…

Meaning: This metaphor became Tyler’s signature framework for explaining why economic growth was easier in the past—these three forms of “low-hanging fruit” provided massive but non-repeatable growth opportunities.

We have failed to recognize that we are at a technological plateau

Exact phrase: “We have failed to recognize that we are at a technological plateau. The fruit trees are barer than we want to believe.”

Book: The Great Stagnation

Meaning: Captures Tyler’s thesis that America has exhausted easy sources of economic growth, leading to decades of economic stagnation.

Recent innovation is more geared to private goods than to public goods

Exact phrase: “If one sentence were to sum up the mechanism driving the Great Stagnation, it is this: Recent and current innovation is more geared to private goods than to public goods.”

Book: The Great Stagnation

Meaning: Modern innovations (like social media) create private enjoyment but don’t generate the widespread economic gains of past innovations (like electricity or antibiotics).

We’re working harder than ever to avoid change

Exact phrase: “We’re working harder than ever to avoid change”

Book: The Complacent Class (2017)

Sources: www.mercatus.org/research/…

Meaning: Tyler’s core thesis that Americans have abandoned the restlessness and risk-taking that historically drove progress, instead using technology to create comfortable bubbles.

Complacency is the enemy

Exact phrase: “Complacency is the enemy”

Book: The Complacent Class

Meaning: A succinct statement of Tyler’s warning that societies cannot sustain stasis indefinitely—complacency eventually leads to crisis and upheaval.

The key questions will be: Are you good at working with intelligent machines or not?

Exact phrase: “The key questions will be: Are you good at working with intelligent machines or not? Are your skills a complement to the skills of the computer, or is the computer doing better without you?”

Book: Average Is Over (2013)

Sources: www.azquotes.com/author/48…

Meaning: Tyler’s framework for understanding future labor markets, where success depends on whether your skills complement or compete with machine intelligence.

Average is over

Exact phrase: “If you and your skills are a complement to the computer, your wage and labor market prospects are likely to be cheery. If your skills do not complement the computer, you may want to address that mismatch. Ever more people are starting to fall on one side of the divide or the other. That’s why ‘average is over.’”

Book: Average Is Over

Meaning: Tyler’s prediction that the middle class will disappear as people either successfully work with machines (and prosper) or compete against them (and struggle).

The measure of self-motivation will become the best predictor of upward mobility

Exact phrase: “The measure of self-motivation in a young person will become the best way to predict upward mobility”

Book: Average Is Over

Meaning: In a world of abundant free online learning, intrinsic motivation becomes more important than raw intelligence or formal credentials.

The Principle of Growth: We should maximize sustainable economic growth

Exact phrase: “The Principle of Growth: We should maximize the rate of sustainable economic growth”

Book: Stubborn Attachments (2018)

Sources: press.stripe.com/stubborn-…

Meaning: Tyler’s core philosophical principle arguing that maximizing sustainable economic growth (defined as “Wealth Plus”) should be the primary moral and policy objective.

We need stubborn attachments to prosperity and freedom

Exact phrase: “We need to develop a tougher, more dedicated, and indeed a more stubborn attachment to prosperity and freedom”

Book: Stubborn Attachments

Meaning: This phrase gives the book its title and captures Tyler’s call for renewed commitment to foundational values that modern society has neglected.

Deep concern for the distant future

Exact phrase: “Deep Concern for the Distant Future: We should not count catastrophic losses for much less simply because those losses are temporally distant”

Book: Stubborn Attachments

Meaning: Tyler argues for a very low or zero discount rate when considering the welfare of future generations—a radical departure from conventional economic thinking.

Economics is everywhere

Exact phrase: “Economics is everywhere, and understanding economics can help you make better decisions and lead a happier life”

Book: Discover Your Inner Economist (2007)

Meaning: Tyler’s popularization of economic thinking as a practical life skill, arguing that economic principles apply far beyond traditional market contexts.

To get a person’s real opinion, ask what she thinks everyone else believes

Exact phrase: “To get a person’s real opinion, ask what she thinks everyone else believes”

Book: Create Your Own Economy

Sources: www.azquotes.com/author/48…

Meaning: A principle about human psychology—people reveal their true beliefs when discussing what “others” think, as they assume others share their own experiences.

Information isn’t what’s scarce; it’s the willingness to do something with it

Exact phrase: “The more information that’s out there, the greater the returns to just being willing to sit down and apply yourself. Information isn’t what’s scarce; it’s the willingness to do something with it.”

Sources: Multiple interviews and writings

Meaning: In the information age, the bottleneck isn’t access to knowledge but motivation, effort, and self-discipline to actually use it.

Additional economic and intellectual concepts

Zero marginal product workers (ZMP)

Exact phrase: “Zero marginal product workers”

Sources: marginalrevolution.com/marginalr…

Meaning: Workers whose productivity is lower than the cost of training, employing, and insuring them. Tyler argues: “We have had a recovery in output, but not in employment. That means a smaller number of laborers are working, but we are producing as much as before… how should we measure the marginal product of those now laid-off workers? I would start with the number zero.”

Wealth Plus

Exact phrase: “Wealth Plus”

Sources: Stubborn Attachments

Meaning: A broader definition of wealth than GDP that includes environmental sustainability, human rights, and other values important for long-term flourishing.

Treat yourself like a piece of your writing which you set aside for a week

Exact phrase: “Treat yourself like a piece of your writing which you set aside for a week so you could look at it fresh”

Meaning: Tyler’s advice for self-reflection and self-understanding—gain perspective on yourself by creating mental distance, as you would with a piece of writing.

Summary statistics

This comprehensive catalog identifies:

• 80+ distinct Tyler-isms across all categories
• 7 major intellectual frameworks (context is scarce, Straussian reading, mood affiliation, solve for equilibrium, meta-rationality, cracking cultural codes, Cowen’s Three Laws)
• 15+ blog post formats and recurring phrases
• 10+ characteristic interview questions
• 20+ food and dining maxims
• 15+ book-specific principles
• Multiple economic concepts and frameworks

Tyler Cowen’s intellectual vocabulary reflects his distinctive approach: economically rigorous yet culturally omnivorous, epistemically humble yet willing to take positions, maximally information-dense yet deliberately obscure. His Tyler-isms create what he himself would call “high upfront context costs”—they require background knowledge to fully appreciate, which exemplifies his point that context is the scarcest resource in modern intellectual life.