Macro Musings

Ellen Meade is a research professor of economics at Duke University and a veteran of the Federal Reserve System. Most recently, Ellen served as a special advisor to the board and Vice Chair, Richard Clarida. Ellen joins David on Macro Musings to discuss her research on monetary policy and her work at the Federal Reserve. Specifically, Ellen and David discuss the prospect of central bank independence at the Fed and the specter of fiscal dominance, the recent history of secrecy and transparency at the Fed and how that impacts the incentives to dissent, the effect of the Fed’s forward guidance on recent policy events, what lessons from the past two years the Fed should incorporate into its next framework review, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Ellen’s Vox EU profile Ellen’s Research Gate archive   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *The Evolution of

Randal Quarles is the executive chairman of the Cynosure Group and the former Vice Chair of Supervision for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Randy also served as an official in the US Department of Treasury, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about his time at the Federal Reserve and his thoughts on current issues facing the institution. David and Randy also discuss how the Fed fell behind the curve on inflation, how he sees the balance sheet reduction process playing out, the central bank’s shifting focus toward climate change, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Randal’s Cynosure profile Randal’s Federal Reserve profile   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *Between the Hither and the Farther Shore: Thoughts on Unfinished Business* by Randal Quarles

Kathy Jones is managing director and chief fixed income strategist for the Schwab Center for Financial Research, and she has spent many years on Wall Street, covering bond markets and foreign exchange. Kathy joins Macro Musings to talk about the present outlook for the economy, the state of markets, and Fed policy. Specifically, David and Kathy discuss the story behind the recent economic slowdown, why equity markets are behind the recessionary curve, Kathy’s sense on QT moving forward, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Kathy’s Twitter: @KathyJones Kathy’s Charles Schwab profile   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!

Michael Dooley is a chief economist for Figure Technologies and a 20-year veteran of the Federal Reserve System and the IMF. Michael is also a professor emeritus in the department of economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about the international monetary system and the future of the dollar. Specifically, David and Michael also discuss the original and revised Bretton Woods systems, the Fed’s role as a monetary superpower, and what this means for the US as a provider of safe and unsafe assets.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Michael’s UC Santa Cruz profile Michael’s NBER archive   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *US Sanctions Reinforce the Dollar’s Dominance* by Michael Dooley, David Folkerts-Landau, and Peter Garber   *Exchange Arrangements Entering the 21st Century: Which Anchor Will Hold?* by Ethan Ilzetz

Brian Knight is the Director of Innovation and Governance at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Brian’s research focuses on numerous aspects of financial regulation, including the creation of pro-innovation regulatory environments, the role of federalism in fintech regulation, the use of digital assets for financial transactions, the role of regulation for credit markets and consumer protection, and the provision of capital to businesses. Brian joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the politicization of finance and its implications for policy. Specifically, Brian and David discuss the concept of reputational risk and its relevance for financial regulation, the extent and limits of ESG concerns in financial regulation, whether financial regulators are too political or not political enough, the present state as well as the future of ‘woke capitalism’, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Brian’s Twitter: @BrianRKnight Brian’s Mercatus profile   David’s Twitter: @David

Lev Menand is an associate professor of law at Columbia University Law School and writes widely on legal issues surrounding the Federal Reserve. Lev rejoins Macro Musings to talk about his new book titled, *The Fed Unbound: Central Banking in a Time of Crisis.* Specifically, David and Lev discuss why the Fed can be considered unbound, the history of the Fed’s engagement with the shadow banking system, and Lev’s solutions for reform.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Lev’s Twitter: @LevMenand Lev’s Columbia Law profile   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *The Fed Unbound: Central Banking in a Time of Crisis* by Lev Menand   *Unappropriated Dollars: The Fed’s Ad Hoc Lending Facilities and the Rules That Govern Them* by Lev Menand

George Selgin is a senior fellow and director emeritus of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute. He is also the most frequent guest on Macro Musings, now appearing for his 12th time. In this episode, George and David identify and discuss their top three articles from the past few weeks related to macroeconomics and monetary policy. Specifically, George and Selgin discuss Lael Brainard’s recent speech defending the Fed’s prospects of issuing central bank digital currency, Janet Yellen’s concession about the path that inflation has taken, the governmental accounting of Federal Reserve losses and whether they amount to a net taxpayer burden, why the Dollar remains firm as the dominant currency in global markets, how an orthodox corridor system defaults into a floor system during times of crisis, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   George’s Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin George’s Cato profile   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_

Christine McDaniel is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center where she focuses on trade and intellectual property rights issues. Christine previously held several positions in the US government, including deputy assistant secretary at the Treasury Department and senior trade economist in the White House Council of Economic Advisors. She has also worked in the economic offices of the US Department of Commerce, US Trade Representative, and the US International Trade Commission. Christine rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the economic sanctions applied to Russia, and their implication for the Russian economy and globalization more generally. Specifically, David and Christine also discuss the structure and effectiveness of the Russia sanctions, the war’s heavy impact on food shortages, the role of dollar dominance in geopolitics, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Christine’s Twitter: @christinemcdan Christine’s Mercatus profil

Manmohan Singh is a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund and works on rehypothecation, shadow banking, the plumbing of the monetary system, and more. Manmohan joins Macro Musings to talk about stablecoins, central bank balance sheets, central bank digital currencies, and their broader implication for central banks. David and Manmohan specifically discuss the role and structure of stablecoins, the impact of collateral within the financial system, how the Fed have looked to address plumbing issues within this system, and more.   Take the Macro Musings listener survey here.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Manmohan’s VoxEU profile: https://voxeu.org/users/manmohansingh0 Manmohan’s Risk.net archive: https://www.risk.net/author/manmohan-singh   Related Links:   *Interoperability of Stablecoins* by Manmohan Singh, Caitlin Long, and Charles Kahn https://www.centralbanking.com/fintech/7892256/interoperability-of-stablecoins   *How to

Bill Nelson is the Chief Economist and an Executive Vice President at the Bank Policy Institute. Bill previously was a deputy director at the Division of Monetary Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board where his responsibilities included monetary policy analysis, discount window policy analysis, and financial institution supervision. He also worked closely with the BIS on the design of liquidity regulation. Bill joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the Fed's balance sheet, its reduction plans and how the Fed fell behind the curve. Specifically, David and Bill get into whether the Fed regretted its premature tightening period from 2015 to 2018, how the Fed’s focus on the baseline outlook left it not resilient to alternative developments, how concerns over another taper tantrum impacted the Fed’s decision-making, the Fed’s handling of its FAIT framework, and much more. Take the Macro Musings listener survey here.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musing

Josh Hendrickson is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Mississippi and Chair of the Economics Department. Josh joins David on Macro Musings to discuss US monetary policy and US defense policy. Specifically, Josh and David discuss the coordination of fiscal and monetary policy and what Milton Friedman would think of it today, the Fed’s responsibility for modern inflation trends, state capacity and how it impacts economic growth, the role of national defense in the context of state capacity and economic growth, and much more.   Take the Macro Musings listener survey here.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Josh’s Twitter: @RebelEconProf Josh’s Ole Miss profile: https://economics.olemiss.edu/joshua-hendrickson/   Related Links:   *Central Banks are Inflation Creators, Not Inflation Fighters* by Joshua R. Hendrickson https://www.mercatus.org/publications/monetary-policy/central-banks-are-inflation-creators-not-inflation-fighter

Peter Ireland is a professor of economics at Boston College, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee. Peter has also been a visiting scholar at numerous Federal Reserve Banks and is a returning guest to the podcast. He rejoins Macro Musings to talk about U.S. monetary policy during the pandemic and what the path forward looks like for the Fed and the policy landscape. David and Peter also discuss the current state of macroeconomics, including the most influential and popular business cycle theories, the present direction of policy macro, and whether or not the Fed’s current framework should shoulder blame for its pandemic policy missteps.     Take the Macro Musings listener survey here.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Peter’s Twitter: @PIrelandEcon Peter’s Boston College profile: https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/mcas/departments/economics/people/faculty-directory/p

Jens van 't Klooster is a political economist at the University of Amsterdam's Department of Political Science. Jens rejoins David on Macro Musings to discuss the changes taking place at the European Central Bank. Specifically, Jens and David talk about the ECB’s recent commitment to a gradual process of monetary tightening, the prospect and limitations of market neutrality in setting monetary policy, the rise of technocratic Keynesianism and questions surrounding the political legitimacy of the ECB’s recent policy decisions, as well as the politics surrounding the ECB’s approach to government debt.   Take our listener survey here.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Jens’s Twitter: @jvklooster Jens’s website: https://jensvantklooster.com/   Related Links:   *The Myth of Market Neutrality: A Comparative Study of the European Central Bank’s and the Swiss National Bank’s Corporate Security Purchases* by Jens van ’t Klooster and Clément Fontan htt

Colin Grabow is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about US trade policies, the Jones Act, and the consequences of this harmful maritime statute. Specifically, David and Colin also discuss the counterfactual world of TPP, the future of international trade, and how to fix the myriad of problems caused by the Jones Act.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Colin’s Twitter: @cpgrabow Colin’s Cato Institute profile: https://www.cato.org/people/colin-grabow   Related Links:   Cato’s Project on Jones Act Reform: https://www.cato.org/project-jones-act-reform   *The Jones Act: A Burden America Can No Longer Bear* by Colin Grabow, Inu Manak, and Daniel Ikenson https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/jones-act-burden-america-can-no-longer-bear   *Rust Buckets: How the Jones Act Undermines U.S. Shipbuilding and National Security* by Colin Grabow https://www.cato.org/policy

Nick Timiraos is a Chief Economics Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and rejoins Macro Musings to discuss his new book titled, *Trillion Dollar Triage: How Jay Powell and the Fed Battled the President and a Pandemic and Prevented Economic Disaster.* Specifically, David and Nick discuss Jay Powell’s background and early career in law and finance, his unique path to being nominated as Fed Chair, how Powell’s character has aided him in his eventful tenure as Fed Chair, how he was uniquely suited to usher in the change to the Fed’s operating framework, and much more.   Check out the Conversations with Tyler episode featuring David Rubenstein.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Nick’s Twitter: @NickTimiraos Nick’s Wall Street Journal profile: https://www.wsj.com/news/author/nick-timiraos   Related Links:   Check out the Conversations with Tyler episode featuring David Rubenstein: https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/david-rubenstein/

Joey Politano is an economist and a commentator who writes and publishes on a Substack newsletter named, “Apricitas Economics,” where he covers a wide range of subjects on a number of economic topics. Joey joins Macro Musings to talk about inflation, monetary policy, and the issues surround them. Specifically, David and Joey discuss the outlook for services and durable goods inflation, the indicators of tightening financial conditions, lessons learned from monetary policy over the past decade, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Joey’s Twitter: @JosephPolitano Joey’s Substack: https://apricitas.substack.com/   Related Links:   *Inflation Hits 7.9%, and Things are Likely to Get Worse Before They Get Better* by Joseph Politano https://apricitas.substack.com/p/inflation-hits-79-and-things-are?s=r   *Financial Conditions are Tightening as the Fed Raises Rates* by Joseph Politano https://apricitas.substack.com/p/financial-conditions-are-t

Eric Leeper is a professor of economics at the University of Virginia, an advisor to the Swedish and German central banks and a former Fed economist. Eric has written widely on the links between monetary policy and fiscal policy and joins David on Macro Musings to discuss these links and their implication for the price level. Specifically, Eric and David discuss the relationship between fiscal authorities and monetary authorities as it relates to fiscal dominance and monetary dominance, how the fiscal theory of the price level (FTPL) enhances our understanding of these relationships, how the FTLP can be applied to contemporary economies, what our expectations of fiscal policy should be moving forward, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Eric’s UVA profile: https://economics.virginia.edu/people/profile/eml3jf Eric’s NBER archive: https://www.nber.org/people/eric_leeper?page=1&perPage=50   Related Links:   *Some Unpleasant Monet

Alex Nowrasteh is the director of Economic and Social Policy Studies at the Cato Institute where he writes widely on US immigration policy. He also has several books on the topic, including his recently co-authored book, *Wretched Refuse? The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions.* Alex joins Macro Musings to talk about immigration in the United States and its implications for economic growth and policy. Specifically, David and Alex also discuss the current trends in population growth and immigration, the consequences of falling birthrates, Alex’s rebuttals to the most common arguments against immigration, and more.   Check out Conversations with Tyler: https://conversationswithtyler.com, and subscribe to Conversations with Tyler on your favorite podcast app.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Alex’s Twitter: @AlexNowrasteh Alex’s Cato profile: https://www.cato.org/people/alex-nowrasteh   Related Links:   *Wretched Refuse? The Polit

Kaleb Nygaard is a senior research associate at the Yale Program on Financial Stability and runs the website Centralverse, a place where all things central banking are made clear. Kaleb is also a former Chicago Fed staffer. Kaleb joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the governance and institutional details of the Federal Reserve System. Specifically, Kaleb and David get into President Biden’s nominations to the Fed Board of Governors, the nomination process at the Fed, what is driving the short tenures of Fed Governors in recent years, how regional bank presidents get elected, how social media has impacted the problem of groupthink at the Fed, and much more.   Check out Ideas of India: https://www.discoursemagazine.com/tag/ideas-of-india-podcast/, and subscribe to Ideas of India on your favorite podcast app.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Kaleb’s Twitter: @KalebNygaard Kaleb’s website: https://kalebnygaard.com/   Related Links:   *Restor

Bill Nelson is a chief economist and an executive vice president at the Bank Policy Institute. Bill was previously a deputy director of the Division of Monetary Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board, where his responsibilities included monetary policy analysis, discount window policy analysis, and the analysis and financial institution supervision. He also worked closely with the BIS working groups on the design of liquidity regulations. Bill is also a previous guest of the podcast, are rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the outlook for US monetary policy, the future of the Fed’s balance sheet, and its implications for the Fed’s operating system and bank regulations. David and Bill also discuss the Fed’s response to current macroeconomic events, the stigma surround the standing repo facility, and how to think about exogenous risks to the US banking system.    Check out Conversations with Tyler: https://conversationswithtyler.com, and subscribe to Conversations with Tyler on your favorite podcast app.   Transc