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Conversations with Tyler

Michael Kremer on Economists as Founders

Conversations with Tyler

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2020

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michael Kremer is best known for his academic work researching global poverty, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2019 along with Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee. Less known is that he is also the founder of five non-profits and in the process of creating a sixth. And Kremer doesn't see anything unusual about embodying the dual archetypes of economist and founder. "I think there's a lot of relationship between the experimental method and the things that are needed to help found organizations," he explains.

Michael joined Tyler to discuss the intellectual challenge of founding organizations, applying methods from behavioral economics to design better programs, how advanced market commitments could lower pharmaceutical costs for consumers while still incentivizing R&D, the ongoing cycle of experimentation every innovator understands, the political economy of public health initiatives, the importance of designing institutions to increase technological change, the production function of new technologies, incentivizing educational achievement, The Odyssey as a tale of comparative development, why he recently transitioned to University of Chicago, what researchers can learn from venture capitalists, his current work addressing COVID-19, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded September 9th, 2020

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,

0:08.4

bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.

0:12.6

Learn more at mercatis.org.

0:15.2

And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit

0:20.4

ConversationsWithT Tyler.com.

0:26.4

Hello everyone, welcome back to ConversationsWithT Tyler.

0:29.8

Today the guest is Michael Kramer, recent Nobel Laureate in Economics.

0:34.0

Michael, welcome.

0:35.5

Thanks.

0:36.5

Obviously you're famous as an economist, but I'd like to start with a notion of Michael Kramer

0:40.8

as founder.

0:42.2

In my notes, I have it that you found it at least five nonprofits with the six to come.

0:47.0

What is it about founding that for you is so enjoyable?

0:50.8

I do like doing that and it's great to feel like you're having an impact on people's

0:57.0

lives.

0:58.0

And I think that some of the things that I've found have gone on to have that impact.

1:03.0

And that's very exciting.

1:04.7

And it's obviously also an intellectual challenge to think about how to put things together

1:09.5

and how to grow a team and get something moving.

1:14.1

But what comparative advantage of yours is it using?

1:17.2

So a lot of economists will produce ideas and let other people do all the founding.

1:22.3

What is it that you bring to founding that's special to you?

...

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