Can a Phone Be a Cow? (with Philip Auerswald)

2026-06-22 · 80 min · episode 1055 · 18 entities

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Asserted relationships

→ appeared on EconTalk podcast

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evidence rules-v4
Can a Phone Be a Cow? (with Philip Auerswald)
→ hosted by Russ Roberts person

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Russ Roberts
→ hosted by Library of Economics and Liberty person

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Library of Economics and Liberty
→ discusses Society & Culture concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Society & Culture
→ discusses Science concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Science
→ discusses Philosophy concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Philosophy
→ discusses Education concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Education
→ discusses Courses concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Courses
→ discusses Social Sciences concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Social Sciences

Entities found in this episode

concepts 12

mentioned Society & Culture concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Society & Culture
mentioned Science concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Science
mentioned Philosophy concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Philosophy
mentioned Education concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Education
mentioned Courses concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Courses
mentioned Social Sciences concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Social Sciences
discusses Society & Culture concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Society & Culture
discusses Science concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Science
discusses Philosophy concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Philosophy
discusses Education concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Education
discusses Courses concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Courses
discusses Social Sciences concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Social Sciences

persons 5

mentioned Philip Auerswald person

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evidence rules-v4
Can a Phone Be a Cow? (with Philip Auerswald)
mentioned Russ Roberts person

0.70

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Russ Roberts
mentioned Library of Economics and Liberty person

0.70

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Library of Economics and Liberty
hosted by Russ Roberts person

0.55

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Russ Roberts
hosted by Library of Economics and Liberty person

0.55

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Library of Economics and Liberty

podcasts 1

appeared on EconTalk podcast

0.68

evidence rules-v4
Can a Phone Be a Cow? (with Philip Auerswald)

Episode description as stored

Can a phone be a cow? It could in 1990s Bangladesh. This was the insight of a small number of mobile phone market pioneers who helped catalyze the spread of the greatest technological revolution in human history. Listen as George Mason University economist Philip Auerswald speaks to EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how the extension of connectivity to traditionally excluded populations led to wide-scale transformations in productivity. They discuss the role of little-known entrepreneurs such as Iqbal Quadir and innovators like Claude Shannon in bringing the mobile phone to the entire world. Other topics include William Nordhaus's paper on the cost of illumination as a powerful metric of human progress, Schumpeter's notion of innovation as new combinations, and what Auerswald calls the most important question the field of economics can ask: How much of human progress is inevitable, and how much depends on the determination of remarkable individuals?