"Context is that which is scarce" - Marginal REVOLUTION

• Context scarcity explains most communication failures: you can teach someone supply and demand, but without context for its applications, they won't actually think in those terms
• The onboarding problem: even $X00k employees with fancy degrees can't self-guide their learning because they lack organizational context—not intelligence
• Modern art litmus test: dismissing contemporary art as "absurd" reveals you don't understand how context works, not that the art is bad
• MR's deliberate strategy: Tyler writes with minimal upfront context to attract smarter readers and keep himself engaged, even if it makes posts harder to follow
• The meta-lesson: judging people for leadership requires testing their ability to generate understanding of context across domains, often ex nihilo

Tyler Cowen presents "context is that which is scarce" as a fundamental principle for understanding learning, persuasion, and cultural appreciation. His core thesis: we're drowning in information but starved for the contextual frameworks that make information meaningful. You can convince someone that demand curves slope downward, but without sufficient context about when and how to apply supply-and-demand thinking, they won't actually use it.

He illustrates this across domains. In corporate onboarding, even highly credentialed employees earning six figures can't learn "all the important stuff" in under a month because they lack the organizational context—the unwritten knowledge about how things actually work. In art appreciation, dismissing modern or contemporary art as absurd is a "litmus test" for not understanding context's importance; the critics are probably right and you're missing the frameworks needed to appreciate the work. On social media, platforms deliberately truncate context, making bad-faith attributions and conspiracy theories more likely. Throughout, Tyler argues that much of education is teaching context, which is why it's hard and often doesn't feel like "real learning."

The addendum reveals Tyler's own strategy: he deliberately writes MR with minimal upfront context, assuming readers are "up to speed on the relevant discourse" and just want the latest insight. This isn't ideal for everyone, but it keeps him motivated by avoiding boredom and attracts "smarter and better informed readers," which helps him stay sharp. It's an explicit trade-off: sacrifice accessibility to maintain his own engagement and filter for a more sophisticated audience. The honesty is refreshing—he admits he prioritizes his "ongoing program of self-education" over keeping readers happy.