Tyler Cowen: evaluation

Transcript context

…Yeah. I guess that’s true. Gosh, I’ve really never thought about this. I think that every culture has some form of gambling, and for whatever reason, poker became part of the lore of the Old West. It was a way that we gambled, but I don’t know. Can I ask you a quick . . . Are there people who — for example, Mahjong — are there people who make their living playing Mahjong? I don’t even know. I believe so. I’m not an expert in the matter, but yes, I think wherever there’s gambling, even with chess, people make their living from gambling and chess, and that’s an absurd gambling game because who’s ever better is evident very quickly, right? Right, which is why speed chess allows you to feel like you got unlucky. That’s why the real money is made in speed chess. The other thing of course is that, I guess, in chess, you can negotiate. You start with two pawns fewer than I get, so you can try to negotiate what the tipping point is. Same in golf. I’m just going to have to say I don’t know there. It originated in France too, so I don’t know. That’s a really good question. Let’s call it a stumper.…

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