Tyler Cowen: belief

Transcript context

…Tell me, what are the exceptions? I don’t think Guatemala is very happy, and I think significant parts of Bolivia are not so happy. Again, this is relative to income levels. You’re naming two of the poorest countries in the region. I do think that there’s a point where — and this is something else that has been outside of these happiness surveys that we always see, which I always find funny — the notion that the countries of Scandinavia are the happiest in the world, but maybe so. But as someone who spent 10 years of my life living in Latin America as a reporter, and continues to follow the region as part of my job, just speaking for myself, there are several reasons why I do this. I’m very interested in the question of why nations fail or succeed, but I also love these places. I love these countries. I love the happiness, the sense of humor, the value that people place upon family and friends. It’s tough sometimes because for my day job, I live now in New York, and I engage with the region so often now through a purely political lens. Sometimes it feels like exactly the wrong lens to be engaging with the region. During the pandemic in particular, when I was still writing about politics day-to-day but stuck here in New York, it was really tough because I had to keep reminding myself there is so much more to these places than just the dysfunctional politics. Now that I’m able to travel again, I see that every time I go.…

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