Tyler Cowen first went to China about 30 years before 2019 and has been there many times since.

Judged as of 2019-12-23. True: credible evidence (Cowen's own dated writings, travel accounts, interviews or biographies) shows his first trip to China was roughly 30 years earlier (about 1986–1992 counts as 'about 30 years') and that he has visited China several or many times since. Mostly true: he did first visit around then and has returned more than once, but the first trip was a little outside that window (e.g. 1984–85 or 1993–94), or the number of later visits is fewer than 'many' but more than one or two. Mixed: one part holds and the other clearly does not (e.g. the timing is right but he has only been back once, or he has visited many times but the first trip was well after 1994). Mostly false: he has been to China, but the first visit was much later than stated (after 1995) and the visits were few. False: evidence shows he had not been to China by 2019, or first went only in the last few years before 2019.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Marginal REVOLUTION Marginal Revolution (Tyler Cowen blog) · 30 July 2025 Own record

   “I am so, so glad I saw what those places were like in the late 1980s, China most of all and also the hill tribes.”

2. E2 Marginal REVOLUTION Marginal Revolution (Tyler Cowen blog) · 30 July 2025 Own record

   “Rather than spending a full week in Hong Kong, on a lark I took a four-day trip into mainland China, as it was then called.”

3. E3 Economist Tyler Cowen says Americans have lost their drive PBS NewsHour · 27 May 2017

   “What really drove this book was a number of trips to China that I did”

4. E4 Why you should visit China more - Marginal REVOLUTION Marginal Revolution (Tyler Cowen blog) · 28 May 2015 Own record

   “Until my trip to Xi’an, I had never actually tried a real raisin with the real raisin flavor.”

5. E5 My 1988 Southeast Asia trip Marginal REVOLUTION · 30 July 2025 Own record

   “I am so, so glad I saw what those places were like in the late 1980s, China most of all and also the hill tribes.”

6. E6 My 1988 Southeast Asia trip Marginal REVOLUTION · 30 July 2025 Own record

   “Rather than spending a full week in Hong Kong, on a lark I took a four-day trip into mainland China, as it was then called.”

7. E7 My 1988 Southeast Asia trip - Marginal REVOLUTION Marginal Revolution (Tyler Cowen's blog) · 30 July 2025 Own record

   “Rather than spending a full week in Hong Kong, on a lark I took a four-day trip into mainland China, as it was then called.”

8. E8 My 1988 Southeast Asia trip - Marginal REVOLUTION Marginal Revolution (Tyler Cowen's blog) · 30 July 2025 Own record

   “I am so, so glad I saw what those places were like in the late 1980s, China most of all and also the hill tribes.”

9. E9 283: Tyler Cowen - The Path To Prosperity In A Disordered World podscripts.co (transcript of The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk) · 12 November 2018

   “And because I'm flying to China tomorrow,”

In a retrospective post titled "My 1988 Southeast Asia trip", Cowen says he took a four-day trip into mainland China "on a lark" and saw China "in the late 1980s" (E7, E8). That puts his first visit about 30 years before 2019, inside the 1986–1992 window. A 2017 PBS NewsHour interview mentions "a number of trips to China" (E3), a 2015 post describes a trip to Xi'an (E4), and in a November 2018 podcast he says he is flying to China the next day (E9). Together these show he went back several times. Nearly all of this is Cowen's own account, given in interviews and blog posts, but the resolution criteria name his own dated writings and interviews as credible evidence, and the accounts agree across several years and venues.