Tyler Cowen in conversation with Ann Bernstein
- In this CDE Conversation, Tyler Cowen, one of the world’s most influential economic thinkers and public intellectuals, joined Ann Bernstein to discuss the virtues of big business, ‘the Davos crowd’, AI, and the current state of the US economy.
- For Cowen, talent and human capital are the most important ingredients for achieving sustained economic growth. Even poorly run countries can perform well if skills and capabilities are strong, he believes, citing India as a prominent example.
- Cowen argued that while there is a chance that AI could drive rapid economic transformation the pace of change is likely to be slowed by persistent bottlenecks, including government regulation, institutional inertia, large corporations, non-profits, and stagnant universities.
- In his view, the Davos crowd represents an establishment that is focused on what has happened in the past discussing “what was in the pages of the FT”, rather than identifying future trends in a rapidly changing world. He noted that many of the people at the frontier of AI development and forecasting operate well outside traditional Davos networks.
- Although Trump is, in Cowen’s view, working harder than ever to damage the economy, he has not yet succeeded. The US economy has proven to be more resilient than expected, supported by strong domestic production, abundant natural gas, and advances in solar power that reduce vulnerability to oil price shocks. Cowen does not share the view that a US or global recession is inevitable.
