Don’t Write a Book, Unless… with Tyler Cowen

In this episode, I speak with public intellectual and economist Tyler Cowen. I first met Tyler in 2017, when I was working in the federal government leading a regulatory impact analysis team. At the time, I didn’t know any economists, but I wanted to learn from someone in the field. My husband — a devoted Tyler Cowen fan — encouraged me to reach out. Tyler graciously agreed to meet. (My husband was, unsurprisingly, starstruck.)

That meeting sparked a friendship and a pivotal moment in my writing project. When I told Tyler I was considering writing a book, he offered this advice: “Don’t write a book unless you have a disease and writing it is the cure.” It perfectly captured the state of my soul at the time — and encouraged me to keep writing.