> And why would Cowen, who "ranked 17th on a list of the top 100 most influential economists" give the time of day to some rando who just happened to be rich? O

> And why would Cowen, who "ranked 17th on a list of the top 100 most influential economists" give the time of day to some rando who just happened to be rich? One word: money. Cowen is constantly giving the time of day to randos who are not remotely rich. He answers every non-spam email he gets. He runs a program that gives out small grants to nobodies who are just starting out their careers. He's probably the most pathologically available-for-interview economist alive today. In the time it took you to write out this conspiracy theory, you could have done even a cursory Google search instead.