Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Latest Episodes:

Ellen Correia Golay on All-to-All Trading and Treasury Market Liquidity Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

Ellen Correia Golay is a lead Treasury advisor in the markets group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Ellen returns to the program to discuss the lessons of the March 2020 "dash for cash," how all-to-all trading and other market structure reforms could strengthen Treasury market liquidity and resilience, the rise of principal trading firms, and the future of the Fed's standing repo operations, and much more.

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Recorded on August 19th, 2026

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Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:20 - Ellen's Career and Responsibilities 00:09:29 - The Treasury Market 00:17:15 - All-to-All Trading 00:25:19 - Treasury Market Liquidity 00:32:59 - Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee 00:39:28 - Central Clearing 00:44:51 - Ellen's Policy Wishes 00:46:20 - Outro

Nellie Liang on Stablecoins After GENIUS, Private Money, and the Global Dollar Sep 14, 2026

Show notes

Nellie Liang is a former Treasury and Federal Reserve official and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. In Nellie's first appearance on the show, she discusses the future of stablecoins following the GENIUS Act, what stablecoins mean for private money and illicit finance, Fed master accounts, the global role of the dollar, and much more.

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Recorded on August 18th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:23 - Nellie's Career 00:05:48 - The GENIUS Act 00:11:31 - Stablecoins as Private Money 00:27:32 - Fed Master Accounts 00:29:53 - Dollar as Global Reserve Currency 00:35:42 - Stablecoins and US Debt 00:46:49 - Nellie's Policy Recommendations 00:50:11 - Outro

Stephen Miran on Regulatory Dominance, Shrinking the Fed's Balance Sheet, and the Return of Monetarism Sep 07, 2026

Show notes

Stephen Miran is a former governor of the Federal Reserve, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Donald J. Trump, and currently a senior strategist for Hudson Bay Capital Management. In Steve's third appearance on the show, he discusses his life as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and as a Federal Reserve governor, the Fed's balance sheet, regulatory dominance, the future of the discount window, the possible return of monetarism, and much more.

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Recorded on August 20th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:42 - Life as CEA Chair 00:08:40 - Reducing the Fed's Balance Sheet 00:42:23 - A Return to Monetarism? 00:54:32 - Outro

Donald Kohn on the Fed's Past, Present, and Future Aug 31, 2026

Show notes

Donald Kohn is a 40-year veteran of the Federal Reserve System and a senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. Don returns to the program to discuss the lessons of the Greenspan Fed, how Kevin Warsh should think about communication and forward guidance, why inflation remains a concern, the Fed's new task forces, the future of its monetary policy tools, and much more.

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Recorded on July 22nd, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:25 - Working with Paul Volcker 00:08:22 - Working with Alan Greenspan 00:22:11 - The Kevin Warsh Fed 00:31:21 - Fighting Inflation 00:43:26 - Balance Sheet Task Force 01:08:21 - Outro

Ben Harris on AI, Fiscal Sustainability, and the Resilience of the U.S. Economy Aug 24, 2026

Show notes

Ben Harris is vice president and director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution and previously served in senior economic policy roles at the Treasury Department and Council of Economic Advisers. Ben returns to the program to discuss why recent economic shocks have been less damaging than expected, the outlook for inflation and energy markets, whether AI can improve the U.S. fiscal outlook, why we should temper our AI optimism, how longer lifespans and higher interest rates could complicate the fiscal picture, and much more.

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Recorded on July 20th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:55 - Reasons We Were Wrong 00:11:58 - Stubborn Inflation 00:14:57 - Crude Is Not Really the Problem 00:20:12 - A Novel Sanctions Regime 00:30:35 - Temper Your AI Optimism 00:39:34 - Longer Lives, But Larger Debt 00:45:00 - AI and the Future of Interest Rates 00:49:24 - Policy Implications 00:56:26 - Outro

Bill Nelson on Shrinking the Fed's Balance Sheet and Reviving Interbank Markets Aug 17, 2026

Show notes

Bill Nelson is chief research officer and chief economist at the Bank Policy Institute and a former deputy director of the Division of Monetary Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board. In Bill's 11th appearance on the show, he discusses how central banks are rethinking their operating systems, the case for a smaller Fed balance sheet and more routine discount window borrowing, the revival of interbank markets, lessons from Silicon Valley Bank, and much more.

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Recorded on July 20th, 2026

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Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:29 - Bill's Work with Central Banks Abroad 00:11:03 - Reducing the Fed's Balance Sheet 00:30:28 - Fed's Use of a Demand-Driven System 00:40:40 - Voluntary Reserve Target 00:54:31 - Outro

Gianluca Benigno on Central Bank Balance Sheets, Stablecoins, and Nonlinear Inflation Aug 10, 2026

Show notes

Gianluca Benigno is a professor of economics at the University of Lausanne. Previously, he was a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an economist at the Bank of England. Gianluca returns to the program to discuss financial r-star, the changing landscape of central bank balance sheets, the unique challenges facing the Swiss National Bank, how stablecoins could affect Treasury markets and the demand for reserves, the return of nonlinear inflation, its implications for monetary policy, and much more.

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Recorded on June 22nd, 2026

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Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:41 - R-Double-Star 00:04:10 - Central Bank Balance Sheets 00:09:22 - Swiss National Bank 00:32:05 - Working Paper on the Regulation of Stablecoins 00:45:41 - Inflation 00:53:19 - Outro

Barry Eichengreen, Paul Blustein, and Brendan Greeley on Dollar Dominance Aug 03, 2026

Show notes

Barry Eichengreen is a is well known author, economist, and economic historian from the University of California, Berkeley. Paul Blustein is a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal journalist who has authored several acclaimed books on global economic institutions. Brendan Greeley is a veteran journalist from the Financial Times and current PhD student at Princeton studying monetary history. They all return to the show for a special roundtable discussion where they discuss the history of dominant currencies, whether we will always end up with a single reserve currency, whether monetary sovereignty is earned or given, the question of exorbitant privilege, what there is to do about a second China Shock, the future of dollars in the digital age, and much more.

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Recorded on May 11th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:01 - On Each Author's Book

00:11:12 - Globally Dominant Currencies

00:25:37 - Single Reserve Currency

00:28:34 - Fed's Control Over Global Dollar System

00:38:39 - Exorbitant Privilege

00:46:30 - China Shock 2.0

00:49:23 - Future of the Global Dollar System

00:58:16 - Outro

David Wessel on the Fed's Current Inflection Point Jul 27, 2026

Show notes

David Wessel is a senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings and is the director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy. In David's first appearance on the show, he discusses stories of the Greenspan Fed, what is was like in Europe when the euro was adopted, the legacy of the Powell Fed, his thoughts on the great man theory, the outlook for the Kevin Warsh Fed, the ongoing challenge of Fed independence, and much more.

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Recorded on June 15th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:48 - David's Career

00:19:30 - Legacies of Fed Chairmans

00:31:51 - Kevin Warsh Fed

00:43:34 - Fed Independence

00:55:13 - Outro

Sam Lyman on the Digital Payments Race Between the US and China Jul 20, 2026

Show notes

Sam Lyman is the head of research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and formerly was a senior advisor and speechwriter for Treasury Secretary Bessent. In Sam's first appearance on the show, he discusses Secretary Bessent's secret skill, the competition in the digital payments space between the US and China, why the strategic Bitcoin reserve is important, what the future of Bitcoin holds, where things stand with the CLARITY Act, the Q Day conundrum, whether Satoshi Yakamoto is alive or dead, where Sam thinks the anti-AI sentiment is coming from, and much more.

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Recorded on May 21st, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:49 - Sam's Career

00:05:37 - Nation-States and Digital Payments