Tyler Cowen, Columnist

What the Jeffrey Epstein Case Says About Elite Men

Could it be that the main force keeping people from monstrous behavior is simply inertia?

Jeffrey Epstein.

Photographer: Rick Friedman/Corbis News
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Every so often a story comes along that causes me to update my priors — that is, to rethink what I thought I knew. The recent spate of news about Jeffrey Epstein is such a story.

All the facts are not yet known, and maybe never will be, but let me be clear: I am not one to believe in conspiracy theories, and this case is no exception. I believe Epstein committed suicide and was not a murder victim. Nonetheless, some details of this story are much stranger than anything I had been suspecting.