Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Latest Episodes:

Thorvald Grung Moe on the Life of Marriner Eccles and His Lasting Macroeconomic Legacy Sep 28, 2020

Show notes

Thorvald Grung Moe is a 30 year veteran is of the Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway, and has also worked in the Norwegian Ministry of Finance, the World Bank, and the IMF. Thorvald joins Macro Musings to talk about Marriner Eccles and a paper he has written on him title, *Marriner Eccles in the 1950 Treasury-Federal Reserve Accord: Lessons for Central Bankers.* David and Thorvald specifically discuss Eccles' views on countercyclical monetary policy and government finance, his role in reforming and centralizing the Fed, and the many other lessons that can be learned from his life, particularly in the realm of macroeconomics.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Thorvald's Twitter: @finstab

Thorvald's Levy Economics Institute profile: http://www.levyinstitute.org/scholars/thorvald-grung-moe

Related Links:

*Marriner S. Eccles and the 1951 Treasury – Federal Reserve Accord: Lessons for Central Bank Independence* by Thorvald Grung Moe

http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_747.pdf

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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

Carolyn Sissoko on the Collateral Supply Effect and Other Concerns in the Money Market Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

Carolyn Sissoko is an associate professor of economics at the University of the West of England, and she has written widely on shadow banking, money markets, and the plumbing of the financial system. Carolyn joins Macro Musings to talk about the evolution of money markets over the past few decades, and its implication for both monetary and fiscal policy. Specifically, David and Carolyn discuss the collateral supply effect, the consequences of moving from LIBOR to SOFR, and solutions to other money market concerns.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Carolyn's Twitter: @csissoko

Carolyn's UWE Bristol profile: https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/CarolynSissoko

Related Links:

*The Collateral Supply Effect on Central Bank Policy* by Carolyn Sissoko

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3545546

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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

Robin Harding on Abenomics and the 'Japanification' of Monetary Policy Sep 14, 2020

Show notes

Robin Harding is the Tokyo Bureau chief for the Financial Times. Until 2015, he was based in Washington D.C., covering the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and the IMF for the Financial Times. Robin Macro Musings to talk about the Japanese economy, Abenomics, and the evolution of monetary policy in advanced economies over the past decade. Specifically, Robin and David discuss what the Bank of Japan's point inflation target has in common with the Fed's average inflation target, how the Bank of Japan found itself on the frontlines of innovation in monetary policy, and what the legacy of Abenomics portends for the future of monetary policy.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Robin's Twitter: @RobinBHarding

Robin's Financial Times profile: https://www.ft.com/robin-harding

Related Links:

*Six Abenomics Lessons for a World Struggling with 'Japanification'* by Robin Harding

https://www.ft.com/content/9f4b1656-95a2-41e0-9c86-70f5b063796d

*Abe's Tenure Marked by Trade Successes and Thwarted Ambitions* by Robin Harding

https://www.ft.com/content/125378c8-073c-41b6-9aef-42b985c24784

*Leave Public Debt Worries for Another Day* by Robin Harding

https://www.ft.com/content/691cb9f4-b53d-4429-bba4-03ca623c0077

*Methods of Policy Accommodation at the Interest-Rate Lower Bound* by Michael Woodford

https://www.kansascityfed.org/publicat/sympos/2012/mw.pdf?sm=jh083112-4

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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

George Selgin on Average Inflation Targeting and *The Menace of Fiscal QE* Sep 07, 2020

Show notes

George Selgin is the director of the Cato Institute's Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives and is a returning guest to Macro Musings. He joins again to talk about his views on the Fed's new framework and his recent book titled, *The Menace of Fiscal QE.* Specifically, David and George discuss the Fed's quantitative easing evolution, and how the move to a floor system helped pave the way for fiscal QE to become a more popular policy in the present.

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:

*The Menace of Fiscal QE* by George Selgin

https://www.cato.org/books/menace-fiscal-qe

*Mission Creep at the Fed* by Greg Ip

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mission-creep-at-the-fed-11598461446

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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

BONUS: Employ America's Webcast Panel on the Federal Reserve's Updated Framework and Its Implications for Monetary Policy Sep 02, 2020

Show notes

Macro Musings is back with another bonus episode, as Sam Bell and Skanda Amarnath (Employ America) are joined by Julia Coronado (Macro Policy Perspectives) and David Beckworth (Macro Musings) to talk through the announcement of the Fed's framework transition towards average inflation targeting. Specifically, this panel of guests discuss the implications of moving to an average inflation targeting regime, whether the shift may cause credibility problems for the central bank, how to continue to improve the Fed's toolkit, and more.

Special thanks to the Employ America team for allowing us to use their webcast audio for this special Macro Musings bonus content.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Employ America's Twitter: @employamerica

Employ America's website: https://employamerica.org/

Sam Bell's Twitter: @sam_a_bell

Skanda Amarnath's Twitter: @IrvingSwisher

Julia's Twitter: @jc_econ

Julia's Macro Policy Perspectives profile: https://www.macropolicyperspectives.com/team

Related Links:

*A New Way to Manage Inflation* by David Beckworth

https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/commentary/new-way-manage-inflation

*By Doubling Down On Inflation Targeting, the Fed Is At Risk of Forgetting Lessons from 2008 & 2011* by Skanda Amarnath

https://medium.com/@skanda_97974/by-doubling-down-on-inflation-targeting-the-fed-is-at-risk-of-forgetting-lessons-from-2008-2011-f877f78acba2

*Securing Macroeconomic and Monetary Stability with a Federal Reserve–Backed Digital Currency* by Julia Coronado and Simon Potter

https://www.piie.com/system/files/documents/pb20-4.pdf

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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

Scott Lincicome on the China Shock, Trade Policy, and US Labor Markets Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

Scott Lincicome is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at Cato Institute where he writes on international and domestic economic issues, including international trade, industrial policy and manufacturing and global supply chains. Scott joins David on Macro Musings to discuss what we've learned so far about the so-called China shock and where we are today in the trade war. Specifically, David and Scott discuss the historical rise of Chinese exports, its impact on US labor markets, how certain policies make it harder for US workers to adjust, and whether the Trump administration marks a genuine regime shift in international trade.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Scott's Twitter: @scottlincicome

Scott's Cato Institute profile: https://www.cato.org/people/scott-lincicome

Related Links:

*Testing the 'China Shock': Was Normalizing Trade with China a Mistake?"*by Scott Lincicome

https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/testing-china-shock-was-normalizing-trade-china-mistake#:~:text=However%2C%20champions%20of%20the%20emerging,with%20China%20for%20particular%20scorn.&text=It%20finds%20that%20PNTR%20and,that%20PNTR%20critics%20now%20repeat.

*Clashing over Commerce* by Douglas Irwin

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo24475328.html

*Audaciously Hopeful: How President Obama Can Help Restore the Pro‐Trade Consensus* by Dan Ikenson and Scott Lincicome

https://www.cato.org/publications/trade-policy-analysis/audaciously-hopeful-how-president-obama-can-help-restore-protrade-consensus

*The 'China Shock', Exports and U.S. Employment: A Global Input-Output Analysis* by Robert Feenstra and Akira Sasahara

https://www.nber.org/papers/w24022

*Executive Incentives, Import Restrictions, and Competition* by Brian Blank

https://www.mercatus.org/publications/trade-and-immigration/executive-incentives-import-restrictions-and-competition

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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

Jim Tankersley on the State of the Middle Class and How to Boost Economic Growth Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

Jim Tankersley is a tax and economics reporter for the New York Times and has written a new book on the middle class titled, *The Riches of This Land: The Untold, True Story of the American Middle Class.* Jim joins Macro Musings to talk about this book, and the state of the middle class in the US. David and Jim also discuss the history and golden era of the middle class as well as the steps policymakers can take to ensure we return to a path of robust economic growth.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Jim's Twitter: @jimtankersley

Jim's New York Times archive: https://www.nytimes.com/by/jim-tankersley

Related Links:

*The Riches of This Land: The Untold, True Story of the American Middle Class* by Jim Tankersley

https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/jim-tankersley/the-riches-of-this-land/9781541767836/

*The Allocation of Talent and U.S. Economic Growth* by Chang-Tai Hsieh, Erik Hurst, Charles Jones, and Peter Klenow

https://www.nber.org/papers/w18693

*Populism in Place: The Economic Geography of the Globalization Backlash* by J. Lawrence Broz, Jeffry Freiden, and Stephen Weymouth

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3501263

*Testing the 'China Shock': Was Normalizing Trade with China a Mistake?* by Scott Lincicome

https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/testing-china-shock-was-normalizing-trade-china-mistake

*The China Shock: Learning from Labor-Market Adjustment to Large Changes in Trade* by David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson

https://economics.mit.edu/files/12751

*The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream* by Tyler Cowen

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250108708

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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

Vincent Grossmann-Wirth on the ECB in a Post-COVID Economy Aug 17, 2020

Show notes

Vincent Grossmann-Wirth is the Deputy Head of Monetary Policy Implementation Division at the Banque de France. Vincent joins Macro Musings to discuss the European Central Bank's response to the COVID-19 crisis and what may lie ahead for the central bank. Specifically, Vincent and David discuss how the ECB's structure and operating system compares to the US Federal Reserve System, the various dimensions of the ECB's response to COVID-19, and what the ECB's review of its operating framework portends for the future of monetary policy.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Vincent's Twitter: @VinceGW

Vincent's Banque de France profile: https://www.banque-france.fr/en/economics/economists-and-researchers/vincent-grossmann-wirth

Related Links:

*Monetary policy measures taken by the Eurosystem in response to COVID-19* by Vincent Grossmann-Wirth

https://blocnotesdeleco.banque-france.fr/en/blog-entry/monetary-policy-measures-taken-eurosystem-response-covid-19

*What Monetary Policy Operational Frameworks in the New Financial Environment? A Comparison of the US Fed and the Eurosystem Perspectives, 2007–2019* by Vincent Grossmann-Wirth

https://ideas.repec.org/a/mes/ijpoec/v48y2019i4p336-352.html

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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

David Schleicher on the Municipal Trilemma and its Implications for the Current Crisis Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

David Schleicher is a professor at Yale Law School, and as a returning guest to Macro Musings, he joins to talk about the historical role that the federal government has played in responding to state and local budget crises, including the municipal trllemma it faces. This trilemma says the federal government can only avoid two of the three following harms: (1) moral hazard for state budgets; (2) worsening recessions; (3) reducing future state and local infrastructure investment. Specifically, they discuss this trilemma as well as its implications for the COVID-19 crisis.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

David's Twitter: @ProfSchleich

David's Yale profile: https://law.yale.edu/david-n-schleicher

Related Links:

*Stuck! The Law and Economics of Residential Stagnation* by David Schleicher

https://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/stuck-the-law-and-economics-of-residential-stagnation

*Hands On! Part I: The Trilemma Facing the Federal Government During State and Local Budget Crises* by David Schleicher

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3649278

*David Schleicher on Local and State Regulation and Declining Mobility* by Macro Musings

https://macromusings.libsyn.com/58-david-schleicher-on-local-and-state-regulation-and-declining-mobility

*The Future of Remote Work* by Adam Ozimek

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3638597

*States Continue to Face Large Shortfalls Due to COVID-19 Effects* by Elizabeth McNichol and Michael Leachman

https://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/states-continue-to-face-large-shortfalls-due-to-covid-19-effects

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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

Jon Sindreu on Global Financial Flows and the Balance of Trade Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

Jon Sindreu is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal where he covers financial markets and the global transportation industry for the Heard on the Street column. Jon joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the role of global financial flows in driving global trade patterns. Specifically, Jon and David discuss the Bernanke view, loanable funds view, and money view of global financial system, as well as the implications for policy.

Transcript for the episode can be found here.

Jon's Twitter: @jonsindreu

Jon's Wall Street Journal profile: https://www.wsj.com/news/author/jon-sindreu?mod=rsswn

Related Links:

*Trade Wars Are Class Wars* by Matthew Klein and Michael Pettis

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300244175/trade-wars-are-class-wars

*Wages of Destruction* by Adam Tooze

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/295490/the-wages-of-destruction-by-adam-tooze/

*Capital Flows, Asset Prices, and the Real Economy: A "China Shock" in the U.S. Real Estate Market* by Zhimin Li, Leslie Sheng Shen, and Calvin Zhang

https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/ifdp/capital-flows-asset-prices-and-the-real-economy-a-china-shock-in-the-us-real-estate-market.htm

David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

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