When Alex Tabbarok and Tyler Cowen launched Marginal Revolution in August of 2003, they saw attracting a few thousand academic-minded readers as a runaway success. To their astonishment, the blog soon eclipsed that goal, and within a decade had become one of the most widely read economics blogs in the world. Just as remarkably, the blog maintained its relevance in its second decade, bringing in a new generation of readers without a dip in the pace or quality of the posts. As Alex and Tyler jest, only the onset of senility could possibly rein them in.
To mark MR's entrance into its third decade, long-time readers Ben Casnocha, Vitalik Buterin, and Jeff Holmes joined Alex and Tyler to talk about MR's legacy, including the golden age of blogging in mid-2000s, the decline of independent blogs and the rise of social media, why Tyler usually has a post at 1 AM, the consistent design of the site, the peak of the blogosphere in the Great Recession, the robust community—and even marriage—forged through MR, the site's most underrated feature, Alex and Tyler's favorite commenters, how MR catalyzed separate real-world pandemic responses by each of them, the cessation of book clubs, Alex and Tyler's distinct writing style, iconic MR memes, what's happened to Tyrone, whether the site's popularity has tempted them into self-censoring, why it was Alex and Tyler who paired up amongst the other Mason econ bloggers, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
Recorded August 5th, 2023.
Other ways to connect
Photo credit: Lathan Goumas/Office of Communications and Marketing at GMU
Martina Navratilova on Shaping Herself (Live at Mason)
Chris Blattman on Development, Conflict, and Doing What’s Interesting
Robin Hanson on Signaling and Self-Deception (Live at Mason Econ)
Matt Levine Live at Bloomberg HQ
Charles C. Mann on Shaping Tomorrow’s World and the Limits to Growth
Ross Douthat on Narrative and Religion (Live at Mason)
Andy Weir on the Economics of Sci-Fi and Space
Doug Irwin on US Trade Policy
Sujatha Gidla on Being an Ant Amongst the Elephants (Live)
Steve Teles and Brink Lindsey on *The Captured Economy*
Mary Roach on Disgust, Death, and Danger (Live at Mason)
Larry Summers on Macroeconomics, Mentorship, and Avoiding Complacency (Live)
Dave Barry on Humor, Writing, and Life as a Florida Man
Dave Rubin on Digital Media, Crowdfunding, and Comedy (Live)
Atul Gawande on Priorities, Big and Small
Ben Sasse on the Space between Nebraska and Neverland (Live at Mason)
Edward Luce on The Retreat of Western Liberalism (Live)
Jill Lepore on Traveling through Time
Tyler Cowen and Steve Davies talk Theresa May, Brexit, and Europe (Live)
Raj Chetty on Teachers, Social Mobility, and How to Find Answers to Big Questions
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
Teaching Learning Leading K-12
Regenerative Skills
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast