Luis Garicano has one of the more unusual résumés in economics: trained at the University of Chicago Booth School under Gary Becker, Kevin Murphy, and Sherwin Rosen, he left academia for a stint as a member of the European Parliament before returning to research, now at the London School of Economics for a second time. His new book, Messy Jobs, co-authored with Jin Li and Yanhui Wu, argues that AI won't cause mass unemployment for a surprising reason: it will make jobs messier, not simpler, and messiness is precisely what AI struggles with. Tyler and Luis start their conversation with Spain — housing, NIMBYism, and the productivity crisis; Spanish literature and why the Civil War still looms so large; and what Chicago taught Luis about party discipline in European politics. Then to the EU's unanimity problem, capital markets, and Denmark's flexicurity model; a round of overrated-versus-underrated on Rosalía, Penélope Cruz, and Sgt. Pepper's; and finally into Messy Jobs — why retraining programs fail, whether AI's leisure dividend has arrived, and whether Spain could ever achieve AI sovereignty. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/luis-garicano/">transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href= "https://youtu.be/D_A74v2HCC8">full video</a> on YouTube. Recorded July 28th, 2026. Other ways to connect <ul class="dIYekRGT_0ZS9Tag_LeS"> <li class= "e-10750-text encore-text-body-medium encore-internal-color-text-subdued _G3k1eIg6LFgvvq0Lxhg" data-encore-id="text">Follow us on <a href= "https://x.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class= "e-10750-text encore-text-body-medium encore-internal-color-text-subdued _G3k1eIg6LFgvvq0Lxhg" data-encore-id="text">Follow <a href= "https://x.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li class= "e-10750-text encore-text-body-medium encore-internal-color-text-subdued _G3k1eIg6LFgvvq0Lxhg" data-encore-id="text">Follow <a href= "https://x.com/lugaricano">Luis</a> on X</li> <li class= "e-10750-text encore-text-body-medium encore-internal-color-text-subdued _G3k1eIg6LFgvvq0Lxhg" data-encore-id="text"><a href= "https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li class= "e-10750-text encore-text-body-medium encore-internal-color-text-subdued _G3k1eIg6LFgvvq0Lxhg" data-encore-id="text">Join our <a href= "https://discord.com/invite/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class= "e-10750-text encore-text-body-medium encore-internal-color-text-subdued _G3k1eIg6LFgvvq0Lxhg" data-encore-id="text">Email us: <a href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a> </li> <li class= "e-10750-text encore-text-body-medium encore-internal-color-text-subdued _G3k1eIg6LFgvvq0Lxhg" data-encore-id="text">Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts <a href= "https://www.mercatus.org/podcasts">here</a>.</li> </ul> Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:05 - On Spain's housing and political paralysis 00:11:08 - On Spanish literature and the Civil War 00:16:52 - On Basque and Catalan public finance 00:18:59 - On party discipline and political selection 00:22:03 - On the EU's unanimity problem 00:28:47 - On flexicurity and European labor rigidity 00:30:24 - Overrated vs. underrated 00:33:12 - On the future of Spanish language 00:35:01 - On why AI won't cause mass unemployment 00:48:38 - On what's next 00:50:11 - Outro

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