Tyler Looks Back on 2019 (BONUS)

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: A year-end Conversations with Tyler retrospective that reviews the show’s growth, harder-to-prep guests, most popular and underrated episodes, and the evolving role of podcasting versus writing. It also turns into a meta-discussion of Tyler’s work habits, production function, productivity over the decade, and how the show fits into his broader media portfolio.

Main Topics: Year-in-review for Conversations with Tyler (Priority: 5/5): Jeff and Tyler reflect on the podcast’s year: nearly 30 episodes, stronger diversity of guests, fewer weak episodes, and the shift to a biweekly cadence with bonus episodes. Guest prep and research difficulty (Priority: 5/5): Tyler discusses how prep varies by guest type, noting economists are easiest and that some guests—especially Emily Wilson, Ed Boyden, Jordan Peterson, Knausgaard, and Neil Stevenson—required unusually deep or time-consuming preparation. Most popular and most underrated episodes (Priority: 5/5): The conversation identifies Jordan Peterson as the biggest first-week download and Knausgaard and Emily Wilson as especially underrated, high-quality conversations that may have underperformed with broader audiences. Name That Production Function (Priority: 4/5): A recurring game maps guests’ work styles through physical space, writing habits, voice recording, social media use, scheduling, and information intake, revealing how successful people actually create output. Tyler’s work habits and evolving media stack (Priority: 4/5): Tyler explains his calm temperament, preference for email over texting, limited note-taking, preference for focused writing blocks, and how the podcast now sits alongside Marginal Revolution and Bloomberg columns in a broader portfolio. Looking back at 2009 Marginal Revolution (Priority: 4/5): They revisit December 2009 posts, books, and movies to assess what has aged well, how blogging has changed, and how Twitter, transcripts, and new media have altered the quantity and form of output. The role and future of podcasting (Priority: 4/5): Tyler argues podcasting fills idle time but still feels odd to him; he suggests writing remains underrated and wonders whether podcasting may be more of a complement than a replacement for reading and music.

Key Arguments: Tyler’s production function has become more selective and diversified: he writes less on Marginal Revolution than in 2009 because he now spends time on the podcast and other media, but he argues total output remains comparable once transcripts and columns are counted. The hardest guest prep comes from subjects that require deep contextual knowledge outside economics or involve very large bodies of work; Emily Wilson was the most demanding because her Homer translation had to be read multiple times. The show’s audience often underestimates literary or highly specialized guests; Knausgaard and Emily Wilson were judged to be among the year’s best conversations despite likely lower download counts. Tyler sees successful people as under-analyzed in public discourse; he values understanding the real mechanisms behind success, especially the team, infrastructure, and habits that enable output. Tyler’s emotional evenness is a genuine productivity asset: he claims rare unhappy days, which reduces distraction and helps sustained work. He prefers email to texting because email preserves ordering and queue control, whereas texting creates an undue expectation of immediacy. Social media can be part of a production function when used deliberately—for experimentation, temperature-taking, or research—but it must be strategically bounded. He thinks the written transcript matters deeply: many podcast listeners are actually readers, and the transcript is central to how Conversations with Tyler functions. Looking back at 2009, Tyler believes some of the apparent decline in blog volume is structural, not decline in productivity: posts have migrated to tweets, transcripts, and columns, while the blog has become more institutionalized. Tyler remains skeptical of podcasting as a genre, but acknowledges its utility in filling idle time and competing with mobile games and background consumption.

Data Points: Episodes produced in the year: nearly 30 - Tyler says the show produced nearly 30 episodes that year, including bonus episodes. Release cadence: every other week - They note the podcast moved to a biweekly schedule starting the prior year. Minimum annual episode count: 24 - Tyler describes the current baseline schedule as at least 24 episodes per year. Most downloaded first-week episode: Jordan Peterson - Jeff says Peterson was by far the most downloaded in the first week. Old Marginal Revolution post count for December 2009: 160 posts - Jeff reports that MR in December 2009 had about 160 posts. Current December pace mentioned: about 130 posts - Jeff estimates the current month is on pace for about 130 posts. Typical daily posting rate in 2009: about five posts a day - The transcript notes Tyler and Alex were posting roughly five times daily in 2009. Current daily posting rate: about four posts a day - Jeff says the current pace is about four posts per day. Tyler’s age when he went to Germany: 23 - Tyler says he was 23 when he went to Germany for graduate school. Germany year referenced: 1984 or 1985 - Tyler estimates the cereal-shipping episode occurred around 1984 or possibly 1985. Time to make mole: about an hour of labor plus overnight sit - Tyler explains his chicken mole preparation time. Time horizon for podcasting prediction: 5 years maybe, 10 years uncertain - Tyler says he would definitely still be podcasting in five years but is unsure about ten. Twitter use of Henry Farrell: micro threads - Henry Farrell describes using social media to play with ideas and experiment through short Twitter threads.

Pivotal Quotes: "I think I'm very calm. And it's really quite rare that I have an unhappy day." — Tyler Cowen: Tyler answers the question of what it is like being Tyler, describing his emotional steadiness as a productivity advantage. "I think it's one of my core views. We should just study successful people more. Like how do they do this?" — Tyler Cowen: Tyler explains why he likes asking guests about their production functions and methods. "The whole genre mystifies me. I don't see why anyone does it or listens or cares." — Tyler Cowen: Tyler offers a skeptical but reflective view of podcasting as a medium.

Implications: Listeners get a behind-the-scenes map of how the show is made and how high performers work. For the industry, it reinforces that transcripts, prep, and deliberate guest selection are central to value creation, while writing still matters alongside podcasting.