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Conversations with Tyler / episode intelligence

Michael Kremer on Economists as Founders

21 Oct 2020 20 published claims 2 attributable people

Speakers in the public record

Claim mix

belief 7evaluation 4prediction 4uncertainty 2recommendation 2preference 1

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Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

20 published records

01 / belief

I was thinking very much about pharmaceuticals. This is speculation, but I think the pharmaceutical firms — they’re obviously very attached to the current system of intellectual property.

“I was thinking very much about pharmaceuticals. This is speculation, but I think the pharmaceutical firms — they’re obviously very attached to the current system of intellectual property.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

02 / belief

The good news here — as in a lot of development — is, if we try a variety of things, and if we think about it using theory and using the tools of economics and tools of other disciplines, we can really make progress.

“The good news here — as in a lot of development — is, if we try a variety of things, and if we think about it using theory and using the tools of economics and tools of other disciplines, we can really make progress.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

05 / belief

At that particular time — I think the situation’s really changed — there was a lot of demand for teachers, and there were lots of people in the US who were interested in volunteering.

“At that particular time — I think the situation’s really changed — there was a lot of demand for teachers, and there were lots of people in the US who were interested in volunteering.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

09 / belief

I don’t think this is exclusively tied to development economics since the experimental method, but I could explain a little bit more about why I think the experimental method and contemporary development economics research does have a natural affinity for that.

“I don’t think this is exclusively tied to development economics since the experimental method, but I could explain a little bit more about why I think the experimental method and contemporary development economics research does have a natural affinity for that.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

10 / belief

If I think about your O-ring model — as you know, that predicts the less productive people in an organization, in a way, drag down the productivity of the more productive people.

“If I think about your O-ring model — as you know, that predicts the less productive people in an organization, in a way, drag down the productivity of the more productive people.”
Speaker
Tyler Cowen
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

12 / preference

I think you’re totally right that, obviously, the top thing for Americans would be a safari because here you can get mountains and you can get beaches, other places.

“I think you’re totally right that, obviously, the top thing for Americans would be a safari because here you can get mountains and you can get beaches, other places.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

14 / prediction

There’s a number of different things we’ve suggested, but one of them is — and this is very much with your colleague, Alex Tabarrok — very simply is, the world economy is losing $500 billion every month due to COVID, and that means that it’s worth investing a lot in trying to develop a COVID vaccine, even though there’s a pretty high risk of failure, and it’s also worth getting lots of shots on goal.

“There’s a number of different things we’ve suggested, but one of them is — and this is very much with your colleague, Alex Tabarrok — very simply is, the world economy is losing $500 billion every month due to COVID, and that means that it’s worth investing a lot in trying to develop a COVID vaccine, even though there’s a pretty high risk of failure, and it’s also worth getting lots of shots on goal.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

15 / prediction

If you believe Chad — and I do — there’s just something fundamental about the progress of technology, which means that it’s getting harder over time to have a constant growth rate of technology.

“If you believe Chad — and I do — there’s just something fundamental about the progress of technology, which means that it’s getting harder over time to have a constant growth rate of technology.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

16 / prediction

The task ahead of us is getting harder, and that means that there’s a race between the total resources that are going into innovation and the increasing difficulty of the task.

“The task ahead of us is getting harder, and that means that there’s a race between the total resources that are going into innovation and the increasing difficulty of the task.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

17 / evaluation

Now, those haven’t gone that far, in part because they haven’t found something that consumers want to use. That’s actually a great case for an advance market commitment because part of the idea of an advance market commitment is, you have to meet certain technological thresholds, but you also need to get customers willing to put up something.

“Now, those haven’t gone that far, in part because they haven’t found something that consumers want to use. That’s actually a great case for an advance market commitment because part of the idea of an advance market commitment is, you have to meet certain technological thresholds, but you also need to get customers willing to put up something.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

18 / evaluation

If we thought about individuals buying vaccines on their own — when I take a vaccine that would benefit you if you were closer or nearby, but indirectly, it even benefits you.

“If we thought about individuals buying vaccines on their own — when I take a vaccine that would benefit you if you were closer or nearby, but indirectly, it even benefits you.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

19 / recommendation

Maybe we should, because saying that kids who do well in school can go on to the next level of education doesn’t seem that controversial, so maybe we should scale it up.

“Maybe we should, because saying that kids who do well in school can go on to the next level of education doesn’t seem that controversial, so maybe we should scale it up.”
Speaker
Michael Kremer
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

20 / prediction

The second is your — I think — 1993 JME paper with Larry Summers, “Good Policy or Good Luck,” where growth rates vary a great amount, and a lot of that is due to luck or positive real shocks.

“The second is your — I think — 1993 JME paper with Larry Summers, “Good Policy or Good Luck,” where growth rates vary a great amount, and a lot of that is due to luck or positive real shocks.”
Speaker
Tyler Cowen
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler
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