An economist’s palate

The Washington Post covers my economic principles for finding good food.  Excerpt:

I’m sweating and furiously frustrated when I finally arrive, 30 minutes late, at the Hong Kong
Palace, an utterly nondescript Chinese restaurant in a Seven Corners
strip mall. Tyler Cowen is patiently reading when I arrive, unsurprised
that it took me so long to find it. He almost always likes the
hard-to-find joints best. The fact that Hong Kong Palace has an
unlisted phone number is, in Cowen’s eyes, another big plus.

An economist at George Mason University,
Cowen has rather unusual criteria for restaurant selection. He doesn’t
first look at the menu, the ambiance or the reviews.  Being an
economist, he thinks about the rental market, property taxes,
competition and clientele.  "All of us already act like economists," he
said, digging into a plate of Chengdu dumplings in a black vinegar sauce.  "We just have to think about what we already know about the world and apply it to dining."

I liked this article very much.  Elsewhere here is an interview with me in MacLean’s, the Canadian magazine.  What is it they say about them spelling your name right?

Addendum: Arnold Kling reports on my Bloomberg podcast, which I can’t find on the web either; maybe try here.

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