What Price Fame?
BOOK FORUMTuesday, July 18, 2000
4:00 p.m.
Featuring the author Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics, George Mason University, Adjunct Scholar, Cato Institute; with comments by James P. Pinkerton, Author, What Comes Next, Columnist, Newsday, Contributor, Fox News Channel.
The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
The separation of fame and merit is one of the central dilemmas Tyler Cowen considers in his account of the modern market economy. He shows how fame is produced, outlines the principles that govern who becomes famous and why, and discusses whether fame-seeking behavior harmonizes individual and social interests or degrades culture. Most pertinent, Cowen considers the implications of modern fame for creativity, privacy, and morality. Where critics from Plato to Allan Bloom have decried the quest for fame, Cowen takes a more optimistic view. He makes a persuasive case that, however bad fame may turn out to be for the famous, it is generally good for society and culture.