Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Latest Episodes:

Mark Calabria on *Shelter From the Storm: How a COVID Mortgage Meltdown Was Averted* Apr 24, 2023

Show notes

Mark Calabria was the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and prior to that, he was formerly a chief economist for Vice President Mike Pence. Mark is also a previous guest of Macro Musings, and he rejoins the podcast to talk about his new book titled, Shelter From the Storm: How a COVID Mortgage Meltdown Was Averted. Specifically, David and Mark discuss Mark's time as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the relief programs his agency ushered through during the peak of the COVID crisis, the history and handling of Fannie and Freddie, and a lot more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Mark's Twitter: @MarkCalabria

Mark's Cato Institute profile

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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BONUS: George Hall on Financing World War II and Managing Post-War Debt Apr 19, 2023

Show notes

George Hall is a professor of economics at Brandeis University, and was formerly an economist at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. In this bonus segment from the previous conversation, George rejoins the podcast to talk about how the US handled the surge in debt resulting from World War II, how COVID changed government financing, his thoughts on the debt ceiling crisis, and more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

George's Twitter: @George_J_Hall

George's Brandeis profile

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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Related Links:

*Brief History of US Debt Limits Before 1939* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent

*Financing Big US Federal Expenditures Surges: COVID-19 and Earlier US Wars* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent

*Debt and Taxes in Eight U.S. Wars and Two Insurrections* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent

George Hall on the History of the U.S. National Debt and Government Financing Apr 17, 2023

Show notes

George Hall is a professor of economics at Brandeis University, and was formerly an economist at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. George has written widely on the history of U.S. public finance, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about the history of the U.S. national debt, including the most recent surge resulting from the pandemic. David and George also discuss how a government goes about funding itself, two different models of expenditure financing, the Revolutionary War and Civil War as case studies, and more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

George's Twitter: @George_J_Hall

George's Brandeis profile

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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Related Links:

*Financing Big US Federal Expenditures Surges: COVID-19 and Earlier US Wars* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent

*Debt and Taxes in Eight U.S. Wars and Two Insurrections* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent

*Three World Wars: Fiscal-monetary Consequences* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent

Bill Nelson on the Fed's Discount Window Lending, the Overnight Reverse Repo Facility, and the Shifting Size of the Fed's Balance Sheet Apr 10, 2023

Show notes

Bill Nelson is a chief economist and executive vice president of the Bank Policy Institute and 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 financial institution supervision. He also worked closely with the BIS working groups on the design of liquidity regulations and is a previous guest of the podcast. Bill rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the Fed's balance sheet, and in particular, the impact that the Fed's response to the recent banking turmoil has had on its size, as well as the role being played by the Overnight Reverse Repo Facility. David and Bill also discuss the changes in collateral treatment brought about by the banking crisis, the invocation of 13(3) for the Bank Term Funding Program, the recent volume of discount window lending, and a lot more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Bill's BPI profile

BPI's Twitter: @bankpolicy

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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*I Don't Know Why She Swallowed a Fly* by Bill Nelson

*The Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet: Costs to Taxpayers of Quantitative Easing* by Bill Nelson and Andy Levin

Kate Judge and Peter Conti-Brown on the Lessons Learned from the 2023 Banking Panic Apr 03, 2023

Show notes

Kate Judge is a professor of law at Columbia Law School and the editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation, and Peter Conti-Brown is an associate professor of financial regulation and the co-director of the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania. Both are also returning guests to the podcast, and they rejoin Macro Musings to talk about the banking panic of 2023 and the lessons learned so far. Specifically, Kate, Peter, and David discuss how the scene was set for this recent banking crisis, the quality of the policy response, how to reform the banking system moving forward, and a lot more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Kate's Twitter: @ProfKateJudge

Kate's Columbia Law profile

Peter's Twitter: @PeterContiBrown

Peter's UPenn profile

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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Related Links:

*Towards an Administrative Law of Central Banking* by Peter Conti-Brown, Yair Listokin, and Nicholas Parrillo

*Money Market Funds Swell by More Than $286bn Amid Deposit Flight* by Brooke Masters, Marriet Clarfelt, and Kate Duguid

*'The Fed Has Mishandled This About 7 Different Ways': SVB Rescue Sparks Backlash* by Victoria Guida

*Scrap the Bank Deposit Insurance Limit* by Lev Menand and Morgan Ricks

Brian Riedl on the Current and Future Outlook for US Public Finance and Budget Reform Mar 27, 2023

Show notes

Brian Riedl is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute where he focuses on budget, tax, and economic policy issues. Previously, he worked for six years as chief economist for Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and as staff director of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth. He also served as director of budget and spending for Marco Rubio's presidential campaign and was the lead architect of the 10-year deficit reduction plan for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Brian joins Macro Musings to talk about the outlook of US public finance and the tough choices ahead. Specifically, David and Brian also discuss the surging US debt to GDP ratio, the shortfalls of Republican and Democratic plans for budget reform, Brian's preferable policy path forward, and much more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Brian's Twitter: @Brian_Riedl

Brian's Manhattan Institute profile

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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*Biden Is Set to Detail Nearly $3 Trillion in Measures to Reduce Deficits* by Jim Tankersley

Steven Kelly on the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse and Its Implications for Financial Policy Mar 20, 2023

Show notes

Steven Kelly is a senior research associate at the Yale Program on Financial Stability and is a previous guest of the podcast. Steven rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the recent bank collapses at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature, the government response, and what this means for financial stability policy in the present and future. David and Steven also discuss the role that interest rate risk and macro policy played in SVB's failure, the debate over the systemic nature of this crisis, the implementation and use of the Bank Term Funding Program, and more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Steven's Twitter: @StevenKelly49

Steven's Substack: Without Warning

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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Related Links:

Steven Kelly Twitter thread on SVB

Daniela Gabor Twitter thread on SVB

*Was This a Bailout? Skeptics Descend on Silicon Valley Bank Response* by Jeanna Smialek and Alan Rappeport

*Monetary Tightening and U.S. Bank Fragility in 2023: Mark-to-Market Losses and Uninsured Depositor Runs?* by Erica Jiang, Gregor Matvos, Tomasz Piskorski, and Amit Seru

Derek Tang on the Present and Future Landscape for Fed Policy and Politics Mar 13, 2023

Show notes

Derek Tang is the CEO and co-founder of LH Meyer, and is part of the research team based in Washington, D.C. where he forecasts Fed policy developments, provides bespoke policy analysis to institutional investors, and also closely monitors and forecasts the Fed's balance sheet. Derek joins David on Macro Musings to talk about Fed policy, Fed politics, and what to expect in 2023 and 2024. Specifically, David and Derek discuss numerous personnel changes at the Fed, the future of the central bank's balance sheet, the upcoming Congressional agenda for the Fed, what the next framework review has in store, and more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Derek's Twitter: @macroderek

Derek's LH Meyer bio

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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Related Links:

*The Federal Reserve's Current Framework for Monetary Policy: A Review and Assessment* by Janice Eberly, James Stock, and Jonathan Wright

*The Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet: Costs to Taxpayers of Quantitative Easing* by Andy Levin and Bill Nelson

Joey Politano on Fed Policy, Inflation, and the Current State of the US Economy Mar 06, 2023

Show notes

Joey Politano is an economist and commentator who writes regularly on his Substack newsletter titled, Apricitas Economics. Joey is also a previous guest of the podcast, and he rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the state of the US economy, inflation, Fed policy, and much more. Specifically, David and Joey discuss the results of the Fed's ongoing rate hikes, the narrative that higher rates may lead to higher inflation, conducting monetary policy in a supply constrained economy, and more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Joey's Twitter: @JosephPolitano

Joey's Substack: Apricitas Economics

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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Related Links:

*America's 2022 Slowdown* by Joey Politano

*The US Labor Market Was Stronger Than We Thought* by Joey Politano

Peter Conti-Brown on the Legal and Regulatory Issues Facing the Fed and Financial Markets Feb 27, 2023

Show notes

Peter Conti-Brown is an associate professor of financial regulation and legal studies at the University of Pennsylvania and is a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution. Peter is also a returning guest to Macro Musings, and rejoins the podcast to talk about some of the big legal and regulatory issues facing the financial and monetary policy space today. Specifically, David and Peter discuss the debt ceiling crisis, Fed master accounts, the current state of cryptocurrency, the implications of the Federal Reserve Accountability Act, and the most significant court cases facing the central bank today.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Peter's Twitter: @PeterContiBrown

Peter's UPenn profile

The Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation's website

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!

Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!

Related Links:

*The Contingent Origins of Financial Legislation* by Peter Conti-Brown and Brian Feinstein

*Let Crypto Burn* by Stephen Cecchetti and Kim Schoenholtz

*Mint the Coin? Buy Back Bonds? 7 'Gimmicks' for Dodging the Debt Limit* by Jeff Stein

Peter Conti-Brown's Bonus Segment with David Beckworth