Tyler Cowen

Tyler Cowen ( born January 21, 1962) is an American economist. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University. He is a columnist for the New York Times and together with Alex Tabarrok operator of the blog Marginal Revolution. Cowen studied economics at George Mason University ( B.Sc., 1983) and his doctorate in 1987 from Harvard University.

World Market of Cultures

Cowen is in contrast to the critical theory of a "prosperity profit model ", after the wealth, technology and trade promote culture and its diversity. The validity of this model, he shows by many examples. So only allowed imported from Europe metal knife creating striking totem poles by the Indians of the Pacific Coast, or the imported sound the worldwide success of Jamaican reggae. Then Cowen looks at three potential problems of his model:

• The impact of trade on the social ethos: The belief is a characteristic part of a culture that is disturbed by reinforced culture trade and ultimately disappears. This temporal change but at the same time brings forth new synthetic culture products.
• The regional grouping of some goods and services: the example of Hollywood Cowen shows, however, that the global dominance of universalist U.S. film productions, the operation of niche markets not hindered but encouraged on both sides.
• The change of consciousness and the interest of customers for quality issues: With the size of the cultural market, however, is growing not only the superficial, extensively cited by Cowen cultural consumption, but also the quality controlling intensive consumption or Hobbyismus who does not unfold again in smaller, more homogeneous markets can.

Cowen draws three conclusions:

• The concept of cultural diversity has numerous meanings that differ from each other sometimes. Thus, one can distinguish between the inter-societal, individual, and temporal diversity.
• Cultural homogenization and heterogeneity are no alternatives and not interchangeable. Rather, they tend to occur simultaneously. Increased cultural exchange can intersocietal reduce diversity and at the same time increase the intra- societal diversity and individual choice.
• Although changes and damage to the intercultural exchange any company which it touches, but ultimately it promotes innovation and creativity of the people.

Finally, Cowen remarked that most cultures are synthetic, but make this rarely aware. The rejection of certain cultural backgrounds fewer changes on the value of diversity itself as mostly on the non-systematic devaluation of individual foreign influences.

• The Great Stagnation. How America Ate All The Low- Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will ( Eventually ) Feel Better. Dutton, 2011. (EBook )
• Modern Principles of Economics ( with Alex Tabarrok ). Worth Publishers, 2009.
• Modern Principles: Microeconomics ( with Alex Tabarrok ). Worth Publishers, 2009.
• Modern Principles: Macroeconomics ( with Alex Tabarrok ). Worth Publishers, 2009.
• Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World. Dutton, 2009. paperback published under the title: The Age of the Infovore: Succeeding in the Information Economy. Plume, 2010.