Tyler Cowen occupies the Holbert C. Harris Chair of economics as a professor at George Mason University and is co-owner, with Alex Tabarrok, of the most popular economics blog Marginal Revolution. He currently writes the Economic Scene column for the New York Times and is viewed by many as the best blogger in the world.

   Cowen's primary research interest is the economics of culture and has written books on fame, What Price Fame?; art, In Praise of Commercial Culture; cultural trade, Creative Destruction: How Globalization is Changing the World's Cultures. In one of his latest works, Markets and Cultural Voices, Cowen relays how globalization is changing the world of three Mexican amate painters. For Cowen, free markets change culture for the better, allowing them to evolve into something more people want. Other books include Public Goods and Market Failures, The Theory of Market Failure, Explorations in the New Monetary Economics, Risk and Business Cycles, Economic Welfare, and New Theories of Market Failure. Most recently, Cowen released his first mainstream book titled Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist. Discover Your Inner Economist is an introduction to the science of economics that shows it to be built on notions that are already within all of us. Cowen shows how economic notions--such as incentives, signals, and markets--apply far more widely than merely to the decisions of social planners, governments, and big business.

   His dining guide for the DC area, Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide, has been reprinted in the Food section of The Washington Post.

   After graduating in 1983 with a B.S. from George Mason, in 1987 Cowen received his Ph.D. at Harvard, where he was mentored by 2005 Nobel Prize winner, game theorist, and Harvard professor Thomas Schelling.

Topics:

1) Bring About A Marginal Revolution

   Getting the small things right makes all the difference. This is true whether we are reforming a country, building a business, or just trying to show up on time or finish a project. Drawing on his blog writings, Tyler Cowen will show you how to build on the small things we can do well and how to turn them into world-changing differences.

2) How to Save the World (Philanthropy)

If you have money and wish to give it away, how can you make the maximum difference? What are the common mistakes people make in their charity, and how can they be avoided? When does charity backfire altogether? Should you buy FairTrade coffee? How can we save, if not the world, at least some people’s lives?

3) Where is the Economy Headed?

What will our economies look like in twenty years’ time? We read about so many trends, but which are the important ones and why?

4) Discover Your Internal Economist

How can you use incentives to fall in love, survive your next meeting, and motivate your dentist? This talk offers a whirlwind tour of how thinking like an economist – and knowing when not to and how it can bring you a better life.