Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Latest Episodes:

George Selgin on the Future of CBDC, Fed Accounts, and Stablecoins Jan 24, 2022

Show notes

George Selgin is a senior fellow and director emeritus of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute and is also a long-time returning guest of Macro Musings. He rejoins the podcast to talk about central bank digital currency, stablecoins, and the future of the Fed's balance sheet and operating system. Specifically, David and George also discuss the challenges presented by CBDC and Fed accounts, how they could create financial instability, George's proposal for wholesale CBDC, 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.

George's Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin

George's Cato Institute profile: https://www.cato.org/people/george-selgin

Related Links:

*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#old-fashioned-bank-runs

*Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation* by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors

https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/money-and-payments-20220120.pdf

*George Selgin on the Past, Present, and Future of a Real-Time Payments System*

https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/11112019/george-selgin-past-present-and-future-real-time-payments-system

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Henry Curr on the Myths and Uncomfortable Truths about QE Jan 17, 2022

Show notes

Henry Curr is the economics editor for the Economist Magazine and a returning guest to the show. Henry has a new working paper out titled, "Money Printers Go Grrrr: Three Myths and Three Uncomfortable Truths about Quantitative Easing." Henry joins Macro Musings to discuss these three myths and uncomfortable truths about QE. Specifically, David and Henry discuss the continued relevance of quantitative easing as a policy tool, QE's relationship to financial markets and its effect on the banking sector, whether we can estimate the magnitude of its effect on interest rates, whether QE necessarily boosts the monetary base, and much more.

Check out Ideas of India, another Mercatus original podcast: https://www.discoursemagazine.com/tag/ideas-of-india-podcast/

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Henry's Twitter: @Henry_Curr

Henry's Economist profile: https://mediadirectory.economist.com/people/henry-curr/

Henry's website: http://www.henrycurr.com/

Related Links:

*Money Printers Go Grr: Three Myths and Three Uncomfortable Truths about Quantitative Easing* by Henry Curr

https://spe.org.uk/reading-room/ryb-essays/2020-21-rybczynski-prize-essay/

*Fifty Shades of QE: Comparing Findings of Central Bankers and Academics* by Brian Fabo, Martina Jančoková, Elisabeth Kempf and Ľuboš Pástor

https://www.nber.org/papers/w27849

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Lorie Logan on Monetary Policy Operations, the Fed's New Standing Repo Facility, and the Future of the Fed's Balance Sheet Jan 10, 2022

Show notes

Lorie Logan is an executive vice president in the Markets Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In that role, she's the manager of the System Open Market Account (SOMA), for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and she is also the head of the market operations, monitoring, and analysis. Lorie joins Macro Musings to talk about the operations side of monetary policy and her work at the New York Fed. Specifically, David and Lorie discuss the "dash for cash" during the March 2020 Treasury market crisis, the Fed's new standing repo facility, the future of the central bank's balance sheet, and more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Lorie's New York Fed profile: https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/orgchart/logan

Lorie's Fed in Print archive: https://fedinprint.org/search?facets[]=authors_literal_array:Logan%2C+Lorie

Related Links:

*Monetary Policy Implementation: Adapting to a New Environment* by Lorie Logan

https://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/speeches/2021/log211014

*Liquidity Shocks: Lessons Learned from the Global Financial Crisis and the Pandemic* by Lorie Logan

https://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/speeches/2021/log210811

*Recent Disruptions and Potential Reforms in the U.S. Treasury Market: A Staff Progress Report* by the Inter-Agency Working Group

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/IAWG-Treasury-Report.pdf

*U.S. Treasury Markets: Steps Toward Increased Resilience* by the G30 Working Group on Treasury Market Liquidity

https://group30.org/publications/detail/4950

*Report of the Task Force on Financial Stability* by Glenn Hubbard et al.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/report-of-the-task-force-on-financial-stability/

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Paul Krugman on the Year of Inflation Infamy Jan 03, 2022

Show notes

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Laureate in economics, a columnist at The New York Times, and a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He rejoins David on Macro Musings to discuss the great inflation surge of 2021 and its implications for policy. Specifically, David and Paul discuss the state of public opinion surrounding inflation, whether the level of aggregate demand or its composition is the more important driver, what the state of the economy would be if the Fed had more aggressively countered inflation, whether the Fed squeeze is the appropriate response, and much more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Paul's Twitter: @paulkrugman

Paul's NYT profile: https://www.nytimes.com/column/paul-krugman

Related Links:

*The Year of Inflation Infamy* by Paul Krugman

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/opinion/inflation-economy-2021.html

*It's Baaack: Japan's Slump and the Return of the Liquidity Trap* by Paul Krugman

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/1998/06/1998b_bpea_krugman_dominquez_rogoff.pdf

*The Princeton School and the Zero Lower Bound* by Scott Sumner

https://www.mercatus.org/publications/monetary-policy/princeton-school-and-zero-lower-bound

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

David Beckworth on the Safe Asset Theory of Inflation, Comparing Central Bank Frameworks, and a Year of Macro Musings in Review Dec 27, 2021

Show notes

In this special end-of-the-year episode of Macro Musings, David Beckworth joins guest host David Andolfatto of the St. Louis Fed to discuss a wide range of macroeconomic topics, including podcast highlights from the whole of 2021. More specifically, both Davids talk about the similarities and differences between average inflation targeting and NGDP targeting, the recent inflation puzzles that have plagued the macroeconomy, David's safe asset theory of inflation, and more.

Want to support the show? Visit donate.mercatus.org/podcasts

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

David Beckworth's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

David Beckworth's Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/david-beckworth

David Andolfatto's Twitter: @dandolfa

David Andolfatto's St. Louis Fed profile: https://www.stlouisfed.org/about-us/leadership-governance/bank-officers/executive-bios/david-andolfatto

Related Links:

*The Safe Asset Shortage and the Low Inflation of 2010-2019: A Money Demand View* by David Beckworth

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3992846

*The Prospect of Fiscal Dominance in the United States: A New Quantity Theory Perspective* by David Beckworth

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3969473

*The Fiscal Theory of Price Level with a Bubble* by Markus Brunnermeier, Sebastian Merkel, and Yuliy Sannikov

https://www.nber.org/papers/w27116

Talmon Smith on the Great Inflation Surge of 2021 Dec 20, 2021

Show notes

Talmon Smith is an economics reporter for The New York Times and joins David on Macro Musings to talk about the great inflation surge of 2021 and its implications for policy and politics. Specifically, David and Talmon discuss the potential drivers and implications of the great inflation surge that has taken place in 2021, the current and future state of supply chains, the impact of COVID-era stimulus, the state of the labor market, the political implications of the inflation surge, and much more.

Want to support the show? Visit donate.mercatus.org/podcasts.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Talmon's Twitter: @talmonsmith

Talmon's New York Times profile: https://www.nytimes.com/by/talmon-joseph-smith

Related Links:

*One-year jump in energy prices is a big factor in inflation's jump* by Talmon Smith

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/12/10/business/inflation-cpi-stock-market-news#one-year-jump-in-energy-prices-is-a-big-factor-in-inflations-jump

*Americans' Pandemic-Era 'Excess Savings' Are Dwindling for Many* by Talmon Smith

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/business/pandemic-savings.html

*President Biden's job approval sinking on inflation, crime and COVID: POLL* By Brittany Shepherd

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-bidens-job-approval-sinking-inflation-crime-covid/story?id=81701113

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Yesha Yadav on the Fragilities in the Treasury Market and Solutions for Reform Dec 13, 2021

Show notes

Yesha Yadav is a law professor and associate dean at the Vanderbilt University Law School, where she works on banking and financial regulation, securities regulation, and the law of money and payment system. Yesha has written a recent paper titled, *The Failed Regulation of US Treasury Markets*, and she joins Macro Musings to discuss it. Specifically, David and Yesha talk about the implications of the 2020 Treasury market collapse, the fragmented nature of the Treasury market's regulatory structure, solutions for reform, and more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Yesha's Vanderbilt Law profile: https://law.vanderbilt.edu/bio/yesha-yadav

Yesha's Google Scholar archive: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Dn5cmSQAAAAJ&hl=en

Related Links:

*The Failed Regulation of U.S. Treasury Markets* by Yesha Yadav

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3365829

*Fragile Financial Regulation* by Pradeep Yadav and Yesha Yadav

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3685404

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Carola Binder and Christina Parajon Skinner on Populism and Legitimacy at the Federal Reserve Dec 06, 2021

Show notes

Carola Binder is an Associate Professor of Economics at Haverford College, and Christina Parajon Skinner is an assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Both are returning guests to Macro Musings and they rejoin the podcast to talk about populism at the Fed and its implications for policy. Specifically, they discuss rising technopopulism at the Fed, the effect of populist pressures on its legitimacy, the importance of balancing experimentation and intellectual freedom with managing risks of politicization at the Fed, as well as their thoughts on the recent bouts of inflation.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Carola's Twitter: @cconces

Carola's blog: https://carolabinder.blogspot.com/

Carola's Haverford profile: https://carolabinder.sites.haverford.edu/

Christina's Twitter: @CParaSkinner

Christina's Wharton profile: https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/skinnerc/

Related Links:

Cato Institute 39th Annual Monetary Conference: Panel 1: The Populist Challenge to Fed Independence

https://www.cato.org/multimedia/events/39th-annual-monetary-conference-panel-1-populist-challenge-fed-independence

*Technopopulism and Central Banks* by Carola Binder

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3823456

*Technopopulism: The New Logic of Democratic Politics* by Christopher J. Bickerton and Carlo Invernizzi Accetti

https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780198807766.001.0001/oso-9780198807766

*Central Bank Activism* by Christina Parajon Skinner

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/Microsites/fmlg/files/2021/Skinner_Central%20Bank%20Activism.pdf

*Laboratories of Central Banking* by Carola Binder and Christina Parajon Skinner

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3956845

*Fifty Shades of QE: Comparing Findings of Central Bankers and Academics* by Brian Fabo, Martina Jančoková, Elisabeth Kempf, and Ľuboš Pástor

https://www.nber.org/papers/w27849

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Matthew Klein on Recent Inflationary Trends and What to Expect in the Future Nov 29, 2021

Show notes

Matthew Klein is the author of The Overshoot, a newsletter that helps readers make sense of the global economy. Matt is also a returning guest to the podcast, and rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the hot topic of inflation and its outlook. Specifically, David and Matt discuss what is driving trend inflation, Matt's decomposition of the CPI, whether or not we should be worried about inflationary trends, and more.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Matthew's Twitter: @M_C_Klein

Matthew's Substack: https://theovershoot.co/about

Related Links:

*The Case for Patience on Inflation* by Matthew Klein

https://theovershoot.co/p/the-case-for-patience-on-inflation

*What's Going On With Interest Rates? (Part 1)* by Matthew Klein

https://theovershoot.co/p/whats-going-on-with-interest-rates

*Fed Policy Must Adjust for Inflation* by Martin Wolf

https://www.ft.com/content/dc3bedc7-5694-4868-8b86-f9a215966f52

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Markus Brunnermeier on *The Resilient Society* Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

Markus Brunnermeier is a professor of economics and the director of the Bendheim Center for Finance at Princeton University. Markus is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Markus joins Macro Musings to discuss his new book, titled "The Resilient Society," as well as his work on safe assets and their implications for inflation. Specifically, David and Markus discuss the implications of the fiscal theory of the price level for inflation, the role of the Fed in stabilizing money markets, what is meant by "resilience" compared to "robustness" in economies, and much more.

Transcript can be found here.

Markus's Twitter: @MarkusEconomist

Markus's Princeton profile: https://scholar.princeton.edu/markus/home

Related Links:

*The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level with a Bubble* by Markus Brunnermeier

https://scholar.princeton.edu/markus/publications/fiscal-theory-price-level-bubble

*The Resilient Society* by Markus Brunnermeier

https://bcf.princeton.edu/the-resilient-society/

*What Makes US Government Bonds Safe Assets?* by Zhiguo He, Arvind Krishnamurthy, and Konstantin Milbradt

https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.p20161109

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/