This week’s EconTalk features Joel Mokyr talking about technology, growth, and stagnation. He disagrees with Robert Gordon and Tyler Cowen about the likely future path of the American economy and the American standard of living. For the contest, send me a short essay that compares Mokyr’s vision of the future to Tyler Cowen’s vision articulated in his recent EconTalk episode, here. In the essay, briefly describe their two visions and then explain which one you find more compelling and why. Feel free to cite any evidence that might justify your argument.
Send essays to mail at econtalk dot org and for the subject line put “Contest.” I don’t care about the format, pdf, pages, word, or text in an email should all work. I will judge the essays based on clarity, thoughtfulness, accuracy and fairness in treating the ideas of Mokyr and Cowen and the overall quality of the writing.
The goal of the contest is to create resources that enhance the educational experience listeners get from EconTalk.
The author of the best essay will receive an autographed copy of my book The Price of Everything. And I will post the winning essay here at Cafe Hayek. I reserve the right to have no winners if the essays do not reach an arbitrary standard of quality.
Deadline is Tuesday, December 3rd at midnight. Good luck!
UPDATE: What’s a good length? Long enough to get the job done. But try to keep it under 500 words. If you want to go a little longer, that’s OK, but a lot longer than that will discourage the judge of the contest…
UPDATE: The contest was inspired by my interview with Doug Lemov on his book Teach Like a Champion, when I asked him what might make EconTalk more educational–his episode should air in two weeks.
