Macro Musings

Dan Smith is an associate professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University and directs the Political Economy Research Institute at MTSU. Alex Salter is an associate professor of economics at Texas Tech University. Dan and Alex join David on a special live episode of Macro Musings to discuss their new book, Money and the Rule of Law: Generality and Predictability in Monetary Institutions. Specifically, they discuss knowledge and incentive problems in setting monetary policy, what is meant by “rule of law,” how to make monetary policy accountable, centralized versus decentralized forms of digital currencies, thoughts on free banking, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Alex’s Twitter: @alexwsalter Alex’s website: https://www.awsalter.com/ Alex’s Free Market Institute profile: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/freemarketinstitute/people/salter.php   Daniel’s Twitter: @smithdanj1 Daniel’s website: http://www.danieljosephsmith.com/a

David Andolfatto is a vice president for the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank and has published widely in the field of monetary economics. David also blogs at MacroMania and is a returning guest to the podcast. He rejoins Macro Musings to talk about his thoughts on macro theory, plumbing issues, central bank digital currency, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   David’s Twitter: @dandolfa David’s St. Louis Fed profile: https://www.stlouisfed.org/about-us/leadership-governance/bank-officers/executive-bios/david-andolfatto   Related Links:   *Some Thoughts on Central Bank Digital Currency* by David Andolfatto https://www.cato.org/cato-journal/spring/summer-2021/some-thoughts-central-bank-digital-currency   *Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee: April 27-28, 2021* by the Fed https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/fomcminutes20210428.pdf   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Mark Carney served as the governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 until 2013, and as the governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. Mark also was the chairman of the Financial Stability Board from 2011 to 2018. Mark is currently the Vice Chairman and Head of Impact Investing at Brookfield Asset Management, as well as a UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. Mark joins David on Macro Musings to discuss his new book *Value(s): Building a Better World for All*, as well as his career in central banking. Specifically, they discuss Mark’s experience at the Bank of Canada during the Great Recession, nominal GDP targeting and average inflation targeting as central bank frameworks, the future of central bank digital currencies, dollar dominance and the shadow banking system, the role of central banks and the financial sector in combating climate change, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Mark’s Twitter: @MarkJCarney Mar

George Selgin is the director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives and is a returning guest to the podcast. He rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the Fed’s recent calls for comments on opening up Fed accounts to fintechs and other non-bank financial firms. George and David also discuss monetary plumbing issues, the state of fiscal QE, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   George’s Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin George’s Cato Institute profile: https://www.cato.org/people/george-selgin   Related Links:   *Keeping Fintech’s Promise: A Modest Proposal* by George Selgin https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/552614-keeping-fintechs-promise-a-modest-proposal   *Central Bank Digital Currency as a Potential Source of Financial Instability* by George Selgin https://www.cato.org/cato-journal/spring/summer-2021/central-bank-digital-currency-potential-source-financial-instability   *Federal Reserve Board Invites Public Com

Adam Posen is the President of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Previously, Adam was on the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England. He has also worked at the New York Fed and has advised many central banks and governments. Adam is also a returning guest to the podcast and re-joins Macro Musings to discuss his new article, “The Price of Nostalgia: America's Self-Defeating Economic Retreat.” Specifically, David and Adam discuss the Fed’s new framework, secular stagnation, the economic impact of demographic changes, the China shock, and how the new political consensus on trade, growth, and the American middle class is short-sighted and self-defeating.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Adam’s Twitter: @AdamPosen Adam’s PIIE profile: https://www.piie.com/experts/senior-research-staff/adam-s-posen   Related Links:   *The Price of Nostalgia: America's Self-Defeating Economic Retreat* by Adam Posen https://www.foreignaffa

Judge Glock is an economic historian, a scholar at the Cicero Institute, and a returning guest to the podcast. Judge rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the origins of the US mortgage market as detailed in his new book, *The Dead Pledge: The Origins of the Mortgage Market and Federal Bailouts, 1913-1939*. David and Judge also discuss the emergence and evolution of the national US mortgage market, the price parity movement, the history of federal land banks, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Judge’s Twitter: @judgeglock Judge’s blog: https://judgeglock.medium.com/    Related Links:   *The Dead Pledge: The Origins of the Mortgage Market and Federal Bailouts, 1913-1939* by Judge Glock https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-dead-pledge/9780231192538   *The “Riefler-Keynes” Doctrine and Federal Reserve Policy in the Great Depression* by Judge Glock https://read.dukeupress.edu/hope/article-abstract/51/2/297/137129/The-Riefler-Keynes-Doctrine-a

Christina Parajon Skinner is a legal scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, and formerly was a legal counsel to the Bank of England. Christina joins David on Macro Musings to discuss her work on central bank activism. Specifically, David and Christina discuss comparisons between the Fed and the Bank of England, tensions between central bank independence and executive override, contemporary examples of central bank activism, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Christina’s Twitter: @CParaSkinner Christina’s Wharton profile: https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/skinnerc/   Related Links:   *Executive Override of Central Banks: A Comparison of the Legal Frameworks in the United States and the United Kingdom* by Michael Salib & Christina Parajon Skinner https://www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-law-journal/in-print/volume-108-issue-4-april-2020/executive-override-of-central-banks-a-comparison-of-the-legal-frameworks-in-the-u

Robert McCauley is a Senior Fellow at the Global Policy Center at Boston University and a Senior Research Associate of the Global History of Capitalism project at the Oxford Center for Global History. Robert also worked at the Bank for International Settlements for 25 years and the New York Federal Reserve Bank for 14 years, and he joins Macro Musings to discuss questions surrounding the global domain of the dollar. Specifically, Robert and David talk about how the US currency rose to prominence internationally in the 1950s, the size and influence of the global dollar zone, dilemmas imposed by dollar demand worldwide, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Robert’s Boston University profile: https://www.bu.edu/gdp/profile/robert-mccauley/ Robert’s BIS archive: https://www.bis.org/author/robert_n_mccauley.htm   Related Links:   *The Global Domain of the Dollar: Eight Questions* by Robert McCauley https://www.bu.edu/gdp/files/2021/02/McCau

Antonio Fatás is a professor of economics at INSEAD, an international business school with campuses in Singapore, France, and Abu Dhabi. Antonio joins David on Macro Musings to talk about hysteresis and the business cycle. Specifically, David and Antonio discuss the history of the academic literature on business cycle and trend, the impact of the Kydland and Prescott model, and how endogenous growth models play into hysteresis.   Support Macro Musings and get a free NGDP targeting mug: https://donate.mercatus.org/mug/?utm_source=shownotes&utm_medium=hyperlink&utm_campaign=mug   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Antonio’s INSEAD profile: https://faculty.insead.edu/fatas/ Antonio’s Twitter: @AntonioFatas   Related Links:   *Hysteresis and the Business Cycle* by Valerie Cerra, Antonio Fatás, and Sweta Saxena https://faculty.insead.edu/fatas/hysteresis.pdf   *Time to build and aggregate fluctuations* by F.E. Kydland and E.C. Prescott https:

Matteo Maggiori is an associate professor of economics at Stanford University and joins David on Macro Musings to talk about global capital flows, reserve currencies, and the international monetary system. Specifically, David and Matteo also discuss the details of the Global Capital Allocation Project, the US and its status as banker to the world, the possibility we could see a major run on the dollar in the near future, and more.   Support Macro Musings and get a free mug: https://donate.mercatus.org/mug/?utm_source=shownotes&utm_medium=hyperlink&utm_campaign=mug   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Matteo’s Twitter: @m_maggiori Matteo’s website: https://www.matteomaggiori.com/ Matteo’s Stanford profile: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/matteo-maggiori   Related Links:   The Global Capital Allocation Project: https://www.globalcapitalallocation.com/   *The Rise of the Dollar and Fall of the Euro as International Cu

Scott Skyrm is the Executive Vice President in Fixed Income and Repo at Curvature Securities. Scott joins David on Macro Musings to discuss REPO markets, where they have been and where they are going. Specifically, Scott and David discuss the role of broker-dealers like Curvature Securities in the repo market, how repo markets are tied to treasury markets and government deficit financing, why repo rates have recently entered negative territory, potential reforms to the repo market, and much more.   Support Macro Musings and get a free mug: https://donate.mercatus.org/mug/?utm_source=shownotes&utm_medium=hyperlink&utm_campaign=mug   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Scott’s Twitter: @ScottSkyrm Scott’s Bio: http://curvaturesecurities.com/our-team/#1540493883550-e8ec7543-62d3   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Ed Nelson is a Senior Advisor in the Monetary Affairs Division of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Ed has also previously been a professor and has worked at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, as well as the Bank of England. Returning to the podcast, Ed re-joins Macro Musings to talk about his new book, *Milton Friedman and the Economic Debate in the United States: 1932-1972*. Ed and David specifically discuss the life and work of Milton Friedman, as they explore his journey into monetarism, his contributions to the quantity theory of money, how he envisioned a money supply growth rule, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Ed’s website: https://sites.google.com/site/edwardnelsonresearch/ Ed’s Fed profile: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/edward-nelson.htm   Related Links:   *Milton Friedman and the Economic Debate in the United States, 1932-1972: Volume 1* by Edward Nelson https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books

Dan Awrey is a professor of law at Cornell Law School, a financial markets regulation scholar, and the editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation. Dan joins David on Macro Musings to discuss how to promote greater financial innovation, financial inclusion, and alleviate the “too big to fail” problem by safely unbundling banking, money, and payments in our financial system. Dan and David also go on to discuss tensions in the global shadow banking system, the history of how banks evolved to play such a central role in our financial system, how the law has reinforced this bundling of the banks’ roles, and much more.   Transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Dan’s Twitter: @DanAwrey Dan’s Cornell Law Profile: https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/daniel-awrey   Related Links:   *Unbundling Banking, Payments and Money* by Dan Awrey https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3776739   *Brother, Can You Spare a Dollar? Designing an Effective Framew

Chris Russo is a Monetary Policy Program Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and has previously worked at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. He joins Macro Musings to talk about the work he is doing on tensions between the Fed and the Treasury’s management of their respective balance sheets. Specifically, David and Chris discuss what these tensions are and what fixes can be implemented to ameliorate the existing plumbing issues.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Chris’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/christopher-russo Chris’s Github site: https://christopher-russo.github.io/about/   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Saule Omarova is a professor of law and the director of the Jack Clarke Program on the Law and Regulation of Financial Institutions and Markets at Cornell University. Saule joins Macro Musings to talk about the prospects of an emergency fiscal facility, as well as a broader vision for a National Investment Authority. Specifically, Saule and David discuss the need for a third public finance agency, what the mandate of such an authority would be, and how the agency would be structured and held accountable. Saule also answers common objections to her vision such as the potential institutional redundancies, as well as how to prevent cronyism and excessive politicization.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Saule’s Twitter: @STOmarova Saule’s Cornell profile: https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/faculty/bio_saule_omarova.cfm   Related Links:   *Data For Progress: A National Investment Authority* https://www.dataforprogress.org/a-national-investment-auth

Pat Parkinson is a senior fellow at the Bank Policy Institute and a 30-year veteran of the Federal Reserve system, where he served as director of the Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation. During that time, he was also a member of the Basel Committee on Banking and advised Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and Tim Geithner on financial market issues. Pat joins Macro Musings to discuss the treasury market meltdown in March 2020, as well as what we can do moving forward to avoid this issue from happening again. Specifically, David and Pat outline the implementation of a standing repo facility, changes to the supplemental leverage ratio, expanded central clearing, and increased data collection as possible solutions to this problem.     Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Pat’s BPI profile: https://bpi.com/people/pat-parkinson/   Related Links:   *Enhancing Liquidity of the U.S. Treasury Market Under Stress* by Nellie Liang and Pat Parkinson htt

Kathy Bostjancic is the chief US financial economist at Oxford Economics and joins Macro Musings to discuss the outlook for monetary and fiscal policy in 2021 as well as in financial markets. Specifically, David and Kathy discuss the prospects for Fed policy and personnel under the Biden Administration, immediate concerns facing the Fed as the COVID pandemic continues into 2021, what steps the Fed can take to make their new AIT framework credible, how large scale asset purchases have impacted asset prices and the real economy, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Kathy’s Twitter: @BostjancicKathy Kathy’s Oxford Economics profile: https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/about-us/staff/267824/kathy-bostjancic   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Ricardo Reis is a professor of economics at the London School of Economics and a returning guest to the podcast. Ricardo rejoins Macro Musings to talk about central bank swap lines, the importance of fiscal sustainability, and the outlook for inflation in advanced economies. David and Ricardo also discuss safe asset alternatives, and how to think about inflation, debt, and deficits in a more nuanced way.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Ricardo’s Twitter: @R2Rsquared Ricardo’s LSE profile: https://personal.lse.ac.uk/reisr/   Related Links:   *Central Bank Swap Lines* by Saleem Bahaj and Ricardo Reis https://voxeu.org/article/central-bank-swap-lines   *Central Bank Swap Lines During the Covid-19 Pandemic* by Saleem Bahaj and Ricardo Reis https://personal.lse.ac.uk/reisr/papers/20-covicbswaps.pdf   *The Constraint on Public Debt When r < g but g < m* by Ricardo Reis https://iepecdg.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/mpkrg-201112.pdf   *Inflatin

Robert Kaplan is the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Previously, he was a professor and Associate Dean at Harvard Business School, and prior to that was a Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs. Robert is a returning guest to the podcast, and he rejoins Macro Musings to discuss the Fed's new framework, inflation, interest rates and more. Specifically, David and Robert talk about COVID’s impact on FOMC operations, how demographic trends are impacting productivity, the Fed’s expanding balance sheet, its average inflation targeting framework, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Robert’s Twitter: @RobSKaplan Robert’s Dallas Fed profile: https://www.dallasfed.org/en/fed/bios/kaplan.aspx   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Daniel Griswold is a senior affiliated scholar at the Mercatus Center and a nationally recognized expert on trade and immigration policy. Dan is also a returning guest is to the podcast, and joins Macro Musings to talk about immigration policy and the outlook for trade policy with the new Biden Administration. Specifically, David and Dan discuss the major demographic decline in the US, and how greater levels of immigration and can solve many of America’s economic concerns.    Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Dan’s Twitter: @danielgriswold Dan’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/daniel-griswold   Related Links:   *More Immigration Needed to Offset COVID-19 and America’s Demographic Decline* by Daniel Griswold https://www.mercatus.org/publications/trade-and-immigration/more-immigration-needed-offset-covid-19-and-america%E2%80%99s-demographic   *Half a Million Fewer Children? The Coming COVID Baby Bust* by Melissa Kearney and Ph