Tyler Cowen engages today's deepest thinkers in wide-ranging explorations of their work, the world, and everything in between. New conversations every other Wednesday. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.


Conversations with Tyler

Dave Baszucki is co-founder and CEO of Roblox, the user-generated gaming platform where all the games are built by the community itself. With over 100 million daily active users and projected revenue bookings of $7 billion this year, it is one of the largest gaming economies in the world—and one that has made millionaires out of teenage developers in Argentina, South Korea, and everywhere in between. Tyler and Dave explore why Roblox decided early against prioritizing advertising revenue, why Dave thinks the main competition of Roblox is its own execution speed rather than Fortnite, whether every mega platform inevitably becomes an everything app, how falling token costs will change the platform, why he insists all the games on Roblox are beautiful, whether Robux should have a floating exchange rate, why admitting you have kids under 13 on your platform turns out to be a competitive advantage, why he's skeptical of blanket social media bans, what his son's experience with bipolar disorder taught him about metabolic health, his two-year sabbatical between companies that involved a motorhome trip across North America and a stint hosting talk radio in Santa Cruz, why Mutiny on the Bounty remains one of his favorite books, what he'll learn next, and much more. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/dave-baszucki/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href= "https://youtu.be/KL7WBjAuTMg">full video</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded May 27th, 2026. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1">Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href= "https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href= "https://x.com/DavidBaszucki">Dave</a> on X</li> <li><a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link= "https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li>Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1">Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1">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 00:00:44 - Roblox by the Numbers 00:08:54 - Competition 00:12:13 - Everything Apps 00:19:50 - AI Language Translation 00:21:18 - Token Costs 00:24:01 - Beauty and Gaming 00:27:01 - Robux 00:29:28 - Social Media and Younger Audiences 00:40:56 - AI and Gaming 00:45:44 - Mutiny on the Bounty 00:47:38 - David's Earlier Companies 00:51:16 - Mentors 00:52:35 - Outro

Dave Baszucki on Roblox, Teen Entrepreneurs, and the Future of Play

Katja Hoyer is a German-British historian who has made a career out of explaining Germany to the world—and, just as importantly, to Germans themselves. Born in East Germany in 1985 and now based in Britain, she has written acclaimed histories of the German Empire, the GDR, and most recently the Weimar Republic. Tyler and Katja discuss why communism made East Germans more loyal to the system while it bred dissidents in Poland and Hungary, how happy or unhappy life in the GDR actually was, Tyler's own bleak day-trip to East Berlin in 1984, the underrated literature of the GDR (Christa Wolf, Brigitte Reimann), whether Good Bye, Lenin! got the era right, why it's no coincidence that Richter and Polke came from the East, the strange coexistence of communist prudishness and Germany's nudist culture, what Merkel's East German background did and didn't give her as a chancellor, why East Germans remain dramatically underrepresented in leadership positions today, what makes Weimar the cultural and spiritual heart of Germany, why relatively few Jews ever settled there, how much the citizens of Weimar knew about Buchenwald, what actually killed the Weimar Constitution, how she'd rewrite the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler's citizenship problem, underrated German thinkers, the complacency behind Germany's current economic decline, which side of the Weißwurstäquator she'd choose to live on, and much more. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/katja-hoyer/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href= "https://youtu.be/pziNQu9Ltxs">full video</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded March 30th, 2026. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1">Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href= "https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href="https://x.com/hoyer_kat">Katja</a> on X</li> <li><a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link= "https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li>Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1">Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1">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 00:05:34 - East German Artistic Creations 00:10:55 - Angela Merkel's East German Background 00:14:08 - East German Underrepresentation Today 00:17:02 - East Germans vs. West Germans 00:20:32 - Goethe and Weimar's Cultural Heritage 00:27:09 - What Weimar Knew About Buchenwald 00:31:10 - Why the Weimar Constitution Failed 00:35:21 - Prussia, Bavaria, and Where Nazism Took Root 00:38:23 - Rewriting the Treaty of Versailles 00:39:59 - Historical Antisemitism in Germany 00:42:27 - Hitler's Citizenship problem 00:45:14 - Weimar's Best Cultural Creations 00:47:02 - The Most Underrated German Thinker 00:49:07 - Improving Weimar 00:52:58 - Germany's Economic Malaise 00:55:38 - Living in Britain as a German Historian 01:00:49 - Outro

Katja Hoyer on Weimar, the GDR, and the German Character

Toby Wilkinson is one of the world's leading Egyptologists, whose books have ranged across the full sweep of pharaonic history. His latest, The Last Dynasty: Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra, covers the 300-year Ptolemaic period — stranger and more modern-feeling than the Egypt of the pyramids, built around commerce and cosmopolitanism rather than divine kingship, and home to the greatest concentration of scientific talent the ancient world ever saw. Tyler and Toby cover how Alexander took over the empire almost without a fight, why Alexandria became the Manhattan of the ancient world, whether the era was as philosophically fertile as it was scientifically, whether your ancient doctor's visit had positive expected value, what Egypt was actually exporting and selling, whether living standards rose above subsistence or stayed Malthusian, how the ethnic divide between Greek rulers and Egyptian subjects shaped society, what constrained the Ptolemaic Empire from becoming the next Rome, whether Cleopatra has been overhyped, what Julius Caesar was really thinking when he sided with her over her brother, the new frontiers in archeology, whether Herodotus can be trusted, what ancient Egypt knew about Israel and India, when Egyptian jewelry peaked and why, what triggered the sudden emergence of civilization across the ancient world, why a six-year-old Tyler knew King Tut better than Napoleon, and much more. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/toby-wilkinson/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href= "https://youtu.be/kjvGbkIxJZw">full video</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded March 23rd, 2026. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1">Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href= "https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li><a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link= "https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li>Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1">Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1">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 00:04:29 - Intellectual Activity of Alexandria 00:11:07 - The Alexandrian Economy 00:14:36 - The Ptolemaic Empire 00:21:19 - Unanswered Questions in Ptolemaic Egypt 00:23:32 - Modern Alexandria and the Future of Archaeology 00:26:37 - Other Topics in Ancient Egypt 00:42:10 - Toby's Career 00:45:26 - Outro Photo Credit: Benjamin Frei

Toby Wilkinson on Ptolemaic Egypt and the First Great Commercial Civilization

Bob Spitz has written major biographies of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and now the Rolling Stones — but also, somehow, Ronald Reagan and Julia Child. In rock, his credentials were hard won: he started out hustling gigs for an unknown Bruce Springsteen for six years, moved on to handling Elton John's American business, and spent long enough in the world to find himself jamming with Paul McCartney and chatting with Bob Dylan on a stoop in the Village. The Reagan and Julia Child books are harder to explain, and perhaps that's the point—Spitz seems to do his best work when he has no business writing the book at all. Tyler and Bob discuss how the Stones became so great so quickly, what they added to the blues, how their melodies stack up against the Beatles', whether Exile on Main Street deserves its canonical status, which songs are most underrated, what Charlie Watts actually got out of playing in a rock band, the rise and fall of Brian Jones, how the Stones outlasted nearly everyone, the influence of Mick's London School of Economics training, why popular music has lost its cultural influence, what we should still be asking Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, whether the Beatles' breakup was good for the world, how senile Reagan really was in his second term and whether he was ever truly a communist, how good a cook Julia Child actually was, his next book on Lennon's second act, and much more. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/bob-spitz/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href= "https://youtu.be/YzcuM5Q7a50">full video</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded April 28th, 2026. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1">Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href= "https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href="https://x.com/BobSpitzNYC">Bob</a> on X</li> <li><a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link= "https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li>Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1">Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1">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 00:02:44 - The Sound of the Rolling Stones 00:05:25 - Underrated Rolling Stones Songs and Albums 00:09:06 - Charlie Watts and Brian Jones 00:11:18 - Art Colleges and Rock 'n' Roll 00:13:06 - The Stones' Stability 00:16:32 - Mick Jagger: Closet Economist? 00:17:53 - Pop Music's Lack of Relevance 00:20:10 - The Beatles 00:28:14 - Led Zeppelin 00:31:30 - Bruce Springsteen 00:36:20 - Bob Dylan 00:39:40 - Julia Child 00:42:29 - The Knicks 00:45:21 - Ronald Reagan 00:49:01 - Robert Caro 00:52:03 - Writing 00:55:00 - Outro

Bob Spitz on the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and the Art of Biography

Craig Newmark's career, in retrospect, looks like a series of deliberate subtractions: he kept Craigslist plain, stepped aside as CEO early on, gave his equity to his foundation, and now funds people and gets out of their way. His theory, arrived at gradually, is that recognizing your limitations and relying on your network is how you get more done. Tyler and Craig discuss why webpage design has gotten worse for 30 years, what Craig's "obsessive customer service disorder" taught him about human nature, why trusting people and maintaining a nine-second rule for scams aren't as contradictory as they sound, why roommate ads are a better way to find love, why Craigslist never added seller evaluations, why Leonard Cohen speaks to him more than Bob Dylan, what William Gibson's Neuromancer got right about the internet, why Jackson Lamb is now one of his role models, why large foundations lose accountability, what two painful Ivy League grants taught him philanthropy, what he gets from rescuing pigeons, the hard lesson he learned about confronting people who lie for a living, his favorite TV shows and movies, the one genuine luxury he can't go without, what he still needs to learn, and much more. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/craig-newmark/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href= "https://youtu.be/pZMuKkH92fo">full video</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded April 14th, 2026. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1">Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href= "https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href= "https://x.com/craignewmark">Craig</a> on X</li> <li><a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link= "https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li>Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1">Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1">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 00:02:41 - Stepping Aside as CEO 00:04:20 - Customer Service and Social Skills 00:16:27 - Restaurants 00:18:06 - Music 00:19:27 - Science Fiction 00:20:14 - TV Shows 00:26:03 - Philanthropy 00:30:20 - Journalism 00:31:55 - Pigeons 00:32:50 - Entrepreneurship 00:35:09 - Craig's Personal Philosophy 00:37:37 - Major Regrets 00:39:17 - Audience Q&A 00:46:23 - Outro

Craig Newmark on Institutional Maintenance, Giving Away Control, and the Internet We Were Promised (Live at 92NY)

Kim Bowes is an archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania whose book, Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent, Tyler calls perhaps his favorite economics book of 2025. By sifting through the material remains of Roman life — shoes, bricks, ceramics, and the like — she uncovers a picture of ordinary Romans who could evidently afford to buy multiple sets of colorful clothes, use gold coins for daily transactions, and eat peppercorns sourced from thousands of miles away. This vast web of commerce, she argues, both bound the empire together and provided the tax base that kept it running — and when it unraveled, Rome unraveled with it. Tyler and Kim discuss what would surprise a modern visitor to a Roman elite home, what early Roman Christianity actually looked like on the ground, why Romans never developed formal economic reasoning, what decentralized money-lending reveals about the Roman state, whether there were anything like forward markets, why Romans continued to use coins even as the empire debased them, the economics of Roman slavery, whether Roman recipes taste any good, the Romans as hyper-scalers rather than inventors, what Rome made of China and Egypt, why Kim's not a fan of the Vesuvius challenge, the practicalities of landscape archaeology, how a vast belt of factories along the Tiber Valley went undiscovered until twenty years ago, where to go on a three-week tour of the Roman Empire, what she thinks is ultimately behind Rome's unraveling, and much more. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/kim-bowes/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href= "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzavi6iTDcs&t">full video</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded February 2nd, 2026. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1">Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href= "https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li><a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link= "https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li>Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1">Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1">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 00:01:06 - Roman Housing 00:08:28 - What Early Roman Christians Actually Believed 00:16:29 - Roman Economic Thought 00:18:39 - Roman Banking and Money Practices 00:28:48 - The Economics of Roman Slavery 00:31:56 - What Held The Roman Empire Together 00:36:46 - Roman Cookery 00:39:17 - The Romans as Masters of Scale 00:42:05 - Rome's Contact with Asia 0043:59 - The Vesuvius Challenge 00:45:13 - Ancient Carthage and the Fall of Rome 00:49:43 - The Realities of Doing Archaeology 00:57:15 - Touring the Roman Empire 01:00:42 - Outro

Kim Bowes on the Economic Lives of Rome's Ninety Percent

<a href= "https://tylercowen.com/marginal-revolution-generative-book/">Click here</a> to find Tyler's new generative book, The Marginal Revolution: Rise and Decline, and the Pending AI Revolution! Arthur Brooks reckons he's on the fourth leg of a spiral-shaped career: French horn player, economist, president of the American Enterprise Institute, and now Harvard professor and evangelist for the science of happiness. His new book, The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness, argues that happiness isn't a feeling but a combination of enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning — the macronutrients of happiness, he calls them — and that most of us are gorging on the wrong ones. Tyler, naturally, wants to know: what's the marginal value of a book on happiness, and what does spiral number five look like? Along the way, Tyler and Arthur cover how scarcity makes savoring possible and why knowing you'll die young sharpens the mind, what twin studies tell us about the genetics of well-being and why that's not actually depressing, the four habits of the genuinely happy, the placebo theory of happiness books, curiosity as an evolved positive emotion, the optimal degree of self-deception, why Arthur chose Catholicism rather than Orthodoxy, what the research says about accepting death, how he became an economist via correspondence school, AI's effect on think tanks, the future of classical music, whether Trumpism or Reaganism is the equilibrium state of American conservatism, whether his views on immigration have changed, what he and Oprah actually agree on, which president from his lifetime he most admires, Barcelona versus Madrid, what 60-year-olds are especially good at, why he's reading Josef Pieper, how he'll face death, and much more. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/arthur-brooks/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href="https://youtu.be/PIbk5AnJGqc">full video</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded March 19th, 2026. This episode was made possible through the support of the John Templeton Foundation. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1">Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href= "https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href= "https://x.com/arthurbrooks">Arthur</a> on X</li> <li><a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link= "https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li>Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1">Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1">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 00:02:10 - The Macronutrients of Happiness 00:07:54 - What Happiness Books are Worth 00:12:28 - The Habits of the Happiest People 00:14:27 - Why the Young Reject Happiness Advice 00:17:35 - Curiosity's Role in Happiness 00:20:22 - Self-Deception 00:22:04 - Facing Death 00:25:44 - Choosing a Religion 00:28:41 - Immigration 00:30:27 - The American Right Wing 00:33:55 - AI's Role in Happiness 00:37:12 - What Drives Generosity 00:38:37 - Oprah's Political Views 00:40:16 - Which Political Leaders Arthur Admires 00:41:59 - The Best French Horn Players 00:43:40 - Arthur's Spiral of Careers 00:48:20 - The Future of Think Tanks 00:49:50 - The Future of Classical Music 00:51:27 - Living in Spain 00:55:34 - Age and Peak Performance 00:56:12 - What Arthur Will Do Next 00:59:14 - Outro Image Credit: Jenny Sherman

Arthur Brooks on Reinvention, Religion, and the Science of Happiness

<a href= "https://www.92ny.org/event/conversations-with-tyler-craig-newmark"> Buy tickets</a> for the live Conversations with Tyler recording with Craig Newmark at 92NY! Tyler calls Paul Gillingham's new book, Mexico: A 500-Year History, the single best introduction to the country's past—and one of the best nonfiction books of 2026. Paul brings both an outsider's eye and ground-level knowledge to Mexican history, having grown up in Cork — a place he'd argue gave him an instinctive feel for fierce local autonomy and land hunger —earning his doctorate on the Mexican Revolution under Alan Knight at Oxford, and doing his fieldwork in the pueblos of Guerrero. He and Tyler range across five centuries of Mexican history, from why Mexico held together after independence when every other post-colonial superstate collapsed, to why Yucatán is now one of the safest places on earth, what two leaders from Oaxaca tell us about Mexican politics, how Mexico avoided the military coups that plagued the rest of Latin America, what Cárdenas's land reform actually achieved versus what it promised, whether the ejido system held Mexico back, why Mexico worried too much about land and not enough about human capital, how Mexico's fertility rate fell below America's, why Guerrero has been violent for two centuries, why the new judicial reforms are a disaster, where to find the best food in Mexico and Manhattan, what a cache of illicit Mexican silver sitting on a ship in the English Channel has to do with his next book, and more. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/paul-gillingham/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href="https://youtu.be/8JDH6Y_hi1Q">full vi</a><a href= "https://youtu.be/AaeXt_ocDKY">deo</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded February 27th, 2026. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel= "noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> 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 00:01:30 - Post-Independence Mexico 00:05:18 - Peace in Yucatán 00:6:54 - Quintana Roo 00:08:24 - Mexican Infrastructure 00:10:26 - Oaxaca 00:13:54 - Great Food Outside Cities 00:16:39 - Leaders from Coahuila 00:17:50 - Military Rule and Civil War in Mexico 00:21:47 - The Cárdenas Regime 00:24:03 - The Ejido System 00:25:49 - Human Capital 00:40:59 - Doing Mexican History as a Brit 00:42:43 - Guerrero 00:48:37 - Michoacán Violence 00:50:44 - Monterrey 00:52:40 - Judicial Reforms 00:54:44 - The Best Mexican Film, Music, and Novel 00:59:42 - The Best Trip Around Mexico 01:04:05 - Outro

Paul Gillingham on Why Mexico Stays Together

<a href= "https://www.92ny.org/event/conversations-with-tyler-craig-newmark"> Buy tickets</a> for the live Conversations with Tyler recording with Craig Newmark at 92NY! Few living scholars can claim to have shaped how we read Machiavelli as decisively as Harvey Mansfield. His new book, The Rise and Fall of Rational Control, argues that Machiavelli didn't just write about politics—he invented the intellectual machinery of the modern world, starting with the concept of "effectual truth," which Mansfield credits as the seed of modern empiricism. At 93, after 61 years of teaching at Harvard, Mansfield remains cheerfully unimpressed by most of contemporary philosophy, convinced that the great books are self-sustaining, and that irony is what separates serious philosophy from the rest. Tyler and Harvey discuss how Machiavelli's concept of fact was brand new, why his longest chapter is a how-to guide for conspiracy, whether America's 20th-century wars refute the conspiratorial worldview, Trump as a Shakespearean vulgarian who is in some ways more democratic than the rest of us, why Bronze Age Pervert should not be taken as a model for Straussianism, the time he tried to introduce Nietzsche to Quine, why Rawls needed more Locke, what it was like to hear Churchill speak at Margate in 1953, whether great books are still being written, how his students have and haven't changed over 61 years of teaching, the eclipse rather than decline of manliness, and what Aristotle got right about old age and much more. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/harvey-mansfield/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href="https://youtu.be/8JDH6Y_hi1Q">full vi</a><a href= "https://youtu.be/qIcNigOu2H4">deo</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded January 22nd, 2026. This episode was made possible through the support of the John Templeton Foundation. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel= "noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> 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 - Bumper 00:00:36 - Intro 00:01:20 - Machiavelli's "Effectual Truth" 00:05:56 - Conspiracy Theories 00:12:39 - The Vulgarity of Democracy 00:16:35 - The Future of Straussianism 00:34:30 - Why the Supply of Great Books has Dried Up 00:37:56 - Rational Control vs. Spontaneous Order 00:40:25 - Winston Churchill 00:43:30 - Students at Harvard 00:46:05 - Manliness 00:47:34 - Death and Politics 00:48:56 - Outro Image Credit: Erin Clark via Getty Images

Harvey Mansfield on Machiavelli, Straussianism, and the Character of Liberal Democracy

<a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/event/chicago-listener-meetup/"> Sign up</a> for the Chicago CWT Listener Meetup. Henry Oliver is the preeminent literary critic for non-literary nerds. His Substack, The Common Reader, has thousands of subscribers drawn in by Henry's conviction that great literature is where ideas "walk and talk amongst the mess of the real world" in a way no other discipline can match. Tyler, who has called Henry's book Second Act "one of the very best books written on talent," sat down with him to compare readings of Measure for Measure and range across English literature more broadly. Tyler and Henry trade rival readings of the play, debate whether Isabella secretly seduces Angelo, argue over whether the Duke's proposal is closer to liberation or enslavement, trace the play's connections to The Merchant of Venice and The Rape of Lucrece, assess the parallels to James I, weigh whether it's a Girardian play (Oliver: emphatically not), and parse exactly what Isabella means when she says "I did yield to him," before turning to the best way to consume Shakespeare, what Jane Austen took from Adam Smith, why Swift may be the most practically intelligent writer in English, how advertising really works and why most of it doesn't, which works in English literature are under- and overrated, what makes someone a late bloomer, whether fiction will deal seriously with religion again, whether Ayn Rand's villains are more relevant now than ever, and much more. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/henry-oliver/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href="https://youtu.be/8JDH6Y_hi1Q">full vi</a><a href= "https://youtu.be/VeDKWf80Z3M">deo</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded January 12th, 2026. This episode was made possible through the support of the John Templeton Foundation. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Follow <a href="https://x.com/HenryEOliver">Henry</a> on X</li> <li style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel= "noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> 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 00:01:40 - What Shakespeare is really saying in Measure for Measure 00:29:17 - The best way to consume Shakespeare 00:32:26 - Jane Austen, Adam Smith, and Jonathan Swift 00:39:29 - Advertising that works 00:44:37 - Things that are under- and overrated in literature 00:51:24 - Late bloomers 00:58:36 - Outro Image Credit: Sam Alburger

Henry Oliver on Measure for Measure, Late Bloomers, and the Smartest Writers in English

When Tyler called Joe Studwell's How Asia Works "perhaps my favorite economics book of the year" back in 2013, he wasn't alone: it became one of the most influential treatments of industrial policy ever written. Now Studwell has turned his attention to Africa with How Africa Works. Tyler calls it excellent, extremely well-researched, and essential reading, but does Studwell's optimism about the continent hold up under scrutiny? Tyler and Joe explore whether population density actually solves development, which African countries are likely to achieve stable growth, whether Africa has a manufacturing future, why state infrastructure projects decay while farmer-led irrigation thrives, what progress looks like in education and public health, whether charter cities or special economic zones can work, and how permanent Africa's colonial borders really are. After testing Joe's optimism about Africa, Tyler shifts back to Asia: what Japan and South Korea will do about depopulation, why industrial policy worked in East Asia but failed in India and Brazil, what went wrong in Thailand, and what Joe will tackle next. Read a <a href= "https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/joe-studwell/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href="https://youtu.be/zld39xD4sus">full vi</a><a href= "https://youtu.be/TZSCFXKtlTI">deo</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded January 23rd, 2026. Other ways to connect <ul> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Follow us on <a href= "https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href= "https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" target="_blank" rel= "noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.tfaforms.com/5060931" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Join our <a href= "https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Email us: <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-expanded="false" data-remove-tab-index= "true">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1" style= "font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts <a href= "https://www.mercatus.org/podcasts">here</a>.</li> </ul> Image Credit: Nick J.B. Moore

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Conversations with Tyler

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Mercatus Center at George Mason University

#291

Dave Baszucki on Roblox, Teen Entrepreneurs, and the Future of Play

#290

Katja Hoyer on Weimar, the GDR, and the German Character

#289

Toby Wilkinson on Ptolemaic Egypt and the First Great Commercial Civilization

#288

Bob Spitz on the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and the Art of Biography

#287

Craig Newmark on Institutional Maintenance, Giving Away Control, and the Internet We Were Promised (...

#286

Kim Bowes on the Economic Lives of Rome's Ninety Percent

#285

Arthur Brooks on Reinvention, Religion, and the Science of Happiness

#284

Paul Gillingham on Why Mexico Stays Together

#283

Harvey Mansfield on Machiavelli, Straussianism, and the Character of Liberal Democracy

#282

Henry Oliver on Measure for Measure, Late Bloomers, and the Smartest Writers in English

#281

Joe Studwell on Africa, Asia, and What Development Actually Requires