Stubborn Attachments
by Tyler Cowen · first published 2018
12mentions
7recommended by
11HN commenters
2018–2022first – last mentioned
64% recommend36% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Argues that sustained economic growth is the central lever for long-run welfare, offering a framework for ethics and for deciding what to do today. Suggested for readers of growth economics and its moral implications.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…about what to do __today__. Even small changes in GDP growth (e.g. 1-2% per year) has dramatic compounding effects over a multi decade timeframe. For a great book on this, I recommend Tyler Cowen’s Stubborn Attachments which discusses the ethics of economic growth: https://press.stripe.com/stubborn-attachments
on “Can growth continue?” ↗…"awws" allow me time to think about what is being said. If you prefer reading. Read the article that the interview is based upon: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/11/diminish... And Stubborn Attachments by Tyler Cowen: https://www.amazon.com/Stubborn-Attachments-Prosperous-Respo...
on “Patrick Collison on Innovation and Scientific Progress [audio]” ↗…Mating In Captivity - Esther Perel Our Mathematical Universe - Max Tegmark Radical Candor - Kim Scott Scale - Geoffrey West The Seventh Day - Yu Hua Somebody with a Little Hammer - Mary Gaitskill Stubborn Attachments - Tyler Cowen (ebook) What Do You Care What Other People Think? - Richard Feynman
on “Ask HN: What are some interesting books you read in 2017?” ↗If you like this you may also like: - "Egoistic altruism" video by Kurzgesagt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvskMHn0sqQ, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. - Stubborn Attachments by Tyler Cowen. Presents an argument for how contributing to positive sum economic growth is one of the best things you can do for humanity in the medium-to-long-run.
on “The 3 Tenets of Capitalism” ↗…from all ages and all parts of the world." Incredibly, they're taking no stake in successful ventures. They're just subsidizing high-reward ideas to encourage them. If you read The Complacent Class and Stubborn Attachments—both highly recommended, you'll get a better idea of where Tyler is coming from and why this issue of decreasing dynamism is an issue he's so concerned about.
on “Young people are funneled into fields that don’t reward risk-taking” ↗…creating anything. I think focusing on housing and land use/zoning would also directly benefit more people by fixing existing perverse incentives. PG writes about some of this in essays, Tyler Cowen's book Stubborn Attachments was also interesting on the growth aspect (though wealth taxes aren't specifically mentioned). Why do we think wealth will be better allocated by a government? This money is largely already taxed either…
on “Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea” ↗Tyler Cowen has a book with basically that premise - that in the long run, economic growth is the only thing that matters. It's called Stubborn Attachments. It's not an intuitive position for most people, but it's a pretty convincing argument - it's certainly been the most important thing in the last 100 years, in my mind (think the incredible increase…
on “Mark Zuckerberg Interviews Patrick Collison and Tyler Cowen” ↗…metrics that have improved in that context (infant deaths, violent crime reduction, poverty, etc.) It's the best structure I'm aware of and a lot of idealized proposals of alternatives fall flat. The Stubborn Attachments book makes this argument in a way I found pretty convincing. > "But where we disagree, possibly, is that money is the only driver which causes people to start companies. The IBD banker in your example,…
on “Interview with Paul Graham” ↗Could you explain more what you mean about our growth based economic model not being sustainable? This is a topic that I'm fairly new to and the only substantial thing I've read about it is Tyler Cowen's "Stubborn Attachments" which presented what I found to be a very compelling argument that long term economic growth is very good and is in fact the only sustainable way forward. I've been hoping to read some counter arguments…
on “Project Vesta – Mitigating climate change with green sand beaches” ↗…clusters of thinking and people here that need names, but I'm sure that they'd prefer different labels] [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/we-need-... [2] https://www.amazon.com/Stubborn-Attachments-Prosperous-Respo... + thorough review/interview https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/tyler-cowen-stubborn... [3] https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1021995602970923010 [4] https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/02/th...
on “Mark Zuckerberg Interviews Patrick Collison and Tyler Cowen” ↗…of an industry to cost more than its returns to society are morally worth? Is this even possible? Or is there an assumption that the market would somehow fix/prevent this scenario?] [1] Tyler Cowen, Stubborn Attachments, 2018
on “Mark Zuckerberg Interviews Patrick Collison and Tyler Cowen” ↗A dual reading of Tyler Cowen's Stubborn Attachments and Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks.
on “Maximizing the Present and the Future” ↗