Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals - Hardcover

Tyler Cowen is a Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics at George Mason University and Director of the Mercatus Center. He received his PhD in economics from Harvard University in 1987. His book The Great Stagnation: How America Ate the Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better was a New York Times bestseller. He was recently named in an Economist poll as one of the most influential economists of the last decade and several years ago Bloomberg Businessweek dubbed him "America's Hottest Economist." Foreign Policy magazine named him as one of its "Top 100 Global Thinkers" of 2011. He also cowrites a blog called Marginal Revolution, runs a podcast series called Conversations with Tyler, and has cofounded an online economics education project at MRUniversity. His last book was The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream.

Is it possible to develop a sociopolitical philosophy that is believable, robust to human error and biases, and sensitive to the tradeoffs demanded by competing values? Tyler Cowen sets himself nothing short of this very task in Stubborn Attachments. Most of Tyler s books will change how you see the world in myriad of small ways. Stubborn Attachments might well change how you see the world in one very big way. Integrating ideas from across the social sciences, Tyler argues that we should regard the livelihoods of our future descendants including those distant descendants we ll never get to meet as highly as we regard our own. Our political choices should reflect this basic intertemporal egalitarianism. And economic growth, with its magnificent compounding benefits, thus deserves greater consideration as a high moral virtue. Whether you agree or disagree, I think you ll find that following the logic in Stubborn Attachments is as fun as it is intellectually provocative. --Cardiff Garcia, cohost of the NPR podcast, The Indicator from Planet Money

"Tyler Cowen is a national treasure, and Stubborn Attachments is brimming with deep insights about the immense importance of economic growth, moral obligations, rights, and how to think about the future. It's a book for right now, and a book for all times. A magnificent achievement." --Cass R. Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University, and author of The Cost-Benefit Revolution

"Stubborn Attachments is a deeply honest accounting of what matters, and the process by which we can determine what matters. Assumptions are laid bare from the outset, counter-claims are provided. The book invites you to fight it." --Mason Hartman