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Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Mercatus Center at George Mason Universitymacromarketmusings.blogspot.com
Hosted by David Beckworth of the Mercatus Center, Macro Musings pulls back the curtain on the important macroeconomic issues of the past, present, and future.
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Episodes

Tyler Goodspeed on Challenging the Way Economists Look at Recessions

Tyler Goodspeed is the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors and is currently a chief economist in the private sector. In Tyler's first appearance on the podcast he discusses his new book highlighting a different way of looking at recessions, the challenge of breaking away from the human inclination of ascribing patterns to random phenomena, whether recessions are more Dorian Gray or Peter Pan, what history and stories like Jay Cooke tell us about recessions, how to evaluate supply...

May 11, 20261 hr 1 minEp. 542

Peter Conti-Brown and David Beckworth on All Things Financial Regulation

Recorded live in front of the Wharton Financial Regulation Conference, former guest Peter Conti-Brown joins David Beckworth as a Macro Musings co-host on this week's episode. Peter and David discuss the inflection point of 2008 in FinReg scholarship, how Macro Musings has become just as much a show about financial regulation as about macro, what to make of the Trump administrations changes to bank supervision, whether we should be enthusiastic about the GENIUS Act and digital assets, the true id...

May 04, 202655 minEp. 541

Basil Halperin on Macroeconomic Policy in an Age of Transformative AI

Basil Halperin is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Virginia. In Basil's first appearance on the show he discusses the famous but flawed Citrini essay, why Silicon Valley's growth expectations aren't showing up yet in interest rates, the impact of Less Than Zero by George Selgin, what the true frictions in the economy are, the differences between Calvo and menu-cost pricing, the impact of transformational AI on emerging economies and the housing market, and much more. Watc...

Apr 27, 202656 minEp. 540

Rich Clarida on Navigating Monetary Policy in Choppy Waters

Rich Clarida was the vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and is currently a professor of economics at Columbia University and a managing director at PIMCO. Rich returns to the program to discuss whether we give the Fed too little credit for its soft landing, the problem of persistent inflation, how the Fed should respond to rapidly succeeding negative supply shocks, the case for nominal GDP, the state of the Fed's balance sheet, why a synthetic FOMC could help the ...

Apr 20, 202652 minEp. 539

Kris Mitchener on What Actually Anchors the Price Level

Kris Mitchener is a professor of economics at Santa Clara University and is an economic and monetary historian. In Kris's first appearance on the show, he discusses how he fell in love with building data sets out of old dusty archives, the origins and fall of bimetallism, the pros and cons of the gold standard, the problem of operating losses on the Fed's balance sheet, what truly anchors the price level, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transc...

Apr 13, 202656 minEp. 538

Steve Kamin and Mark Sobel on the Outlook of Dollar Dominance

Steve Kamin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and was previously the director of the Division of International Finance at the Federal Reserve Board. Mark Sobel is the US chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum and is a veteran of the US Department of Treasury. Steve and Mark return to the show to discuss the status of dollar dominance, the future threats to dollar dominance, the role or lack thereof that stablecoins will play in dollar dominance, ...

Apr 06, 20261 hr 1 minEp. 537

Ruth Judson on Chasing Dollars Around the World

Ruth Judson is a monetary economist, economic historian, and veteran of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. In Ruth's first appearance on the show she discusses her career at the Fed, field trips tracking counterfeit dollars around the global, how we know how much currency is held overseas, why money doesn't matter anymore, the problem with cashless societies, how to understand TIC data, the promise of dollar backed stablecoins, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube C...

Mar 30, 202651 minEp. 536

Bill Nelson on the Future of the Fed's Balance Sheet

Bill Nelson is a chief research officer and chief economist at the Bank Policy Institute. In Bill's 10th appearance on the show he discusses his infamous email list, the ratchet effect from QE, his congressional testimony, the BPI's Bank Treasurers Survey, how he thinks the Fed should shrink the balance sheet, whether the Fed is profitable, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on March 3r...

Mar 23, 202656 minEp. 535

Neha Narula, Anders Brownworth, and Daniel Aronoff on Understanding Stablecoins in the GENIUS Era

Subscribe to the new Macro Musings YouTube Channel ! Neha Narula is the director of the Digital Currency Initiative which is based out of the Media Lab at MIT. Anders Brownworth is veteran software engineer in the crypto space and is a Senior Research Advisor at DCI. Daniel Aronoff is Research Affiliate in the MIT Department of Economics and a Collaborator at DCI. Neha, Anders, and Daniel join the show to discuss their work at DCI, the current state of stablecoins, their paper on the hidden plum...

Mar 16, 202657 minEp. 534

Jesús Fernández-Villaverde on the Quandary of Global Demographic Decline

Subscribe to the new Macro Musings YouTube Channel ! Jesús Fernández-Villaverde is a professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Jesús returns to the show to discuss his rise on X, how to frame global demographic decline, the three accelerants of demographic decline, the role of housing in family size, how AI will play a role in global demographics, what we know about AGI, the question of dollar dominance, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with li...

Mar 09, 20261 hr 4 minEp. 533

Chris Meissner on the History of Globalization

Subscribe to the new Macro Musings YouTube Channel ! Chris Meissner is a professor of economics at University of California at Davis and is the author of the recent book One from the Many: The Global Economy Since 1850 . In Chris's first appearance on the podcast he discusses the historical bend towards greater globalization, how we should really define the global economy, the impact of the Great Financial Crisis on globalization and populism, the scope of globalization from the 1820's to today,...

Mar 02, 20261 hrEp. 532

Raghuram Rajan on the Impact of the Ratcheting Effect of The Fed's QE Program

Subscribe to the new Macro Musings YouTube Channel ! Raghuram Rajan is a finance professor at the University of Chicago and leads the Group of 30. Previously he was the chief economist at the IMF and the governor of the Reserve Bank of India. In Raghuram's first appearance on the show, he discusses his famous 2005 Jackson Hole speech, how he righted the ship on India's emerging economy, the consequences of zero-sum thinking, the differences between being a policymaker and an academic, the ratche...

Feb 23, 20261 hr 2 minEp. 531

Andrew Martinez on the Art of Forecasting

Andrew Martinez is a former Treasure economist and currently is an assistant professor of economics at American University. In Andrew's first appearance on the show, he discusses his career as a forecaster, the current state of forecasting, the intersection of AI and forecasting, the role of the SEP and monetary policy surprises, his work with David on the NGDP Gap measure, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on January 13th, 2025 Subscribe t...

Feb 16, 202656 minEp. 530

Dan Awrey on the Future of the U.S. Payments System in a Digital World

Dan Awrey is a professor of Law at Cornell University and the author of the new book Beyond Banks: Technology, Regulation, and the Future of Money. Dan returns to the show to discuss his new book, the shadow monetary system, the case for markets to correct this problem, Gresham's new law, his proposals for fixing the payments system, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on January 13th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy ...

Feb 09, 202657 minEp. 529

Scott Sumner on Monetary Policy Confusion in Our Current Policy Debates

Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair Emeritus of Monetary Policy and the founder of the Monetary Policy Program at Mercatus. Scott returns to the show, to discuss his life post Mercatus, nominal GDP counterfactuals of the pandemic and the Great Financial Crisis, the role of QE in inflation, the fears about Fed independence, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on January 15th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexu...

Feb 02, 20261 hr 5 minEp. 528

Tyler Muir on How to Understand the Fed's Quantitative Easing

Tyler Muir is a professor of finance at UCLA. In Tyler's first appearance on the show, he discusses how he became a leading scholar on quantitative easing, what things the Fed can learn in responding to crises, why QE matters, how QE transformed the bond market, the new "Tyler Rule", QE's role in the COVID Pandemic, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on January 8th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David ...

Jan 26, 202656 minEp. 527

Richard Berner on Growth of the Private Credit and the Role of Fiscal Dominance on Treasury Markets

Richard Berner is the former director of the Office of Financial Research and was a counselor of the Treasury Secretary. In Richard's first appearance on the show, he discusses a career that included public service and Wall Street, the fragility of global liquidity, the implications of fiscal dominance, the expansion of private credit, the 2023 SVB banking turmoil, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on January 7th, 2025 Subscribe to David's ...

Jan 19, 202659 minEp. 526

Aaron Klein on the US's Real-Time Payments Problem and the Impact of Covid Era Quantitative Easing

Aaron Klein is a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. Aaron returns to the show to discuss his paper with George Selgin calling for real time payments, the inequality caused by the Fed's current payment processes, the results of Covid time QE, recommendations for dealing with future crises, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on December 11th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow Dav...

Jan 12, 20261 hr 2 minEp. 525

Per Åsberg Sommar on the State of the Riksbank and Operating Systems Around the World

Per Åsberg Sommar is a senior advisor in the markets department at the Swedish central bank. In Per's first appearance on the show, he discusses his career as a central banker, the history of the Riksbank, evolutions in inflation targeting at the Riksbank, changes in the Sweden's central banks operating system, its new tool called the Deposit Requirement Facility, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on December 12th, 2025 Subscribe to David's...

Jan 05, 202659 minEp. 524

2025 Macro Musings Retrospective

David Beckworth and producer Sam Alburger dive into the last year of Macro Musings. They discuss David's foray into Substack, their favorite episodes of the year, the most popular episodes of 2025, David's push for NGDP targeting, this year's most hotly contested episode, how the year 2025 will be remembered in macro history, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on December 10th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus F...

Dec 29, 202556 minEp. 523

Veronique de Rugy on the Impending American Fiscal Crisis

Veronique de Rugy is the George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy and a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. In Veronique's first appearance on Macro Musings she discusses her career as a think tanker's think tanker, what the difference is between classical liberals and libertarians, how America's mindset has shifted on trade and immigration, the fiscal health of the United States, the US's impending debt crises, solutions for fixing the fiscal health of the U...

Dec 22, 20251 hrEp. 522

Martha Gimbel on the Impact of AI and the Trade War on Labor Markets

Martha Gimbel is the executive director and co-founder of the Budget Lab at Yale. In Martha's first appearance on the show, she discusses the missing BLS job market data, the consequences of losing two months of labor market data, the impact of AI on the labor market in the short and long term, why it is hard to determine which job sectors AI will impact first, why people will keep learning foreign languages, the future impact tariffs will have on the economy, why US treasuries might get left fo...

Dec 15, 202556 minEp. 521

Laurence Bristow on What the Fed can Learn from the Reserve Bank of Australia

Laurence Bristow is a former staffer at the Reserve Bank of Australia and currently is a Vice President and Research Associate at the Bank Policy Institute. In Laurence's first appearance on the show, he discusses the differences between the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Fed, The RBA's change in operating systems, what a demand driven system actually looks like, the motivation for the RBA to make this change, calls for changes to the operating system within the Fed, and much more. Check out ...

Dec 08, 202553 minEp. 520

Austin Campbell on the Rise and Regulation of Dollar Backed Stablecoins

Austin Campbell runs Zero Knowledge Group, a consulting and advising firm in the digital assets space and is an adjunct professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. In Austin's first appearance on the show, he discusses what comes next after the GENIUS Act, the debate with interest-on-reserves when it comes to stablecoins, the future of Tether, Governor Waller's proposal of skinny master accounts, the larger macro implications of stablecoins in Europe and the global South, and mu...

Dec 01, 202559 minEp. 519

Mike Bird on the Land Trap and How the History of Housing Impacts the Global Economy

Mike Bird is the Wall Street editor for The Economist magazine and is the author of The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset . Mike returns to the show to discuss the conclusion of Abenomics, the origins of land as an asset, the surge in housing prices during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the unsuspecting story of Wolf Ladejinsky, how housing impacted Japan's lost decade, the modern history of land in China, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links...

Nov 24, 20251 hr 1 minEp. 518

Lukasz Rachel on Non-Ricardian Macroeconomic Policy and Its Implications for Inflation

Lukasz Rachel is a former Bank of England economist and currently is an assistant professor of economics at the University College of London. In Lukasz's first appearance on the show he discusses his big career breaks, the implications of secular stagnation in the industrialized world, what is next for R-star, what non-Ricardian macro policy looks like, his policy prescriptions for the US, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on October 29th, ...

Nov 17, 202552 minEp. 517

Tara Sinclair on Building a Synthetic FOMC Through AI

Tara Sinclair is a professor and chair of the economics department at George Washington University. Tara returns to the show to discuss her ambitious paper simulating an FOMC meeting before it happens with LLM models, the process of building sim FOMC members, the importance of publicly funding economic data, the future of AI and macroeconomics, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on October 27th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroecono...

Nov 10, 202552 minEp. 516

Bryan Cutsinger on the What the History of Growth Driven Deflation Can Teach us about a Potential AI Boom

Bryan Cutsinger is a monetary historian and an assistant professor of economics at Florida Atlantic University. Bryan returns to the show to discuss how we think about deflation, the history of growth driven deflation, the connection between the postbellum period and today, the potential of rapid productivity growth from AI, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on September 23rd, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus F...

Nov 03, 202556 minEp. 515

Will Roberds and Steve Quinn on the Original Central Bank: the Bank of Amsterdam

Will Roberds is an economist emeritus of the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Steve Quinn is a professor of economics at Texas Christian University. In Will and Steve's first appearance on the show they discuss the historical significance of the Bank of Amsterdam, The use of ledger at the Bank of Amsterdam, It's use of repo and open market operations, it's connection to central banking today, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with lin...

Oct 27, 202557 minEp. 514

Jim Clouse on the Last 4 Decades at the Most Powerful Central Bank in the World

Jim Clouse is a veteran of the Federal Reserve System and is currently a fellow at the Andersen Institute. In Jim's first appearance on the show, he discusses the evolution of monetary rules at the Fed, what happened at the Fed during Y2K, 9/11, the Great Financial Crisis, and the COVID Pandemic, the ever changing stigma of the discount window, Ted Cruz's calls to end interest on reserves, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on September 11th...

Oct 20, 20251 hr 1 minEp. 513
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