Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Latest Episodes:

Andrew Park on the Implications of Collateralized Loan Obligations Apr 22, 2019

Show notes

Andrew Park is a senior editor at S&P LCD and is one of the foremost experts on collateralized loan obligations and the leverage loan market. Andrew also writes daily on what's going on in the collateralized loan obligations (CLO) market and his data is the basis for most of the reporting on this topic in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and by many policymakers. He joins the show today to talk about CLOs and their implications for the financial system and, more generally, the economy. David and Andrew also discuss the leveraged loan market, the differences between CDOs and CLOs, and the Fed's most recent rate hikes.

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/04222019/andrew-park-loans-financial-system-and-economy

Andrew's Twitter: @apark_

Andrew's Forbes profile & archive: https://www.forbes.com/sites/spleverage/people/andrewparksp/#18bc9eb1102d

Related Links:

*Wall Street's Billionaire Machine, Where Almost Everyone Gets Rich* by Tom Metcalf, Tom Maloney, Sally Bakewell, and Christopher Cannon

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-collateralized-loan-obligations/

*U.S. Leveraged Loan Market: Plenty of Risk, But Not Systemic* by Beth MacLean

https://www.pimco.com/en-us/insights/viewpoints/us-leveraged-loan-market-plenty-of-risk-but-not-systemic/

David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Eric Lonergan on Helicopter Drops and How to Improve Monetary Policy Apr 15, 2019

Show notes

Eric Lonergan is macro hedge fund manager, and economist, and a writer. He has written for Foreign Affairs, the Financial Times, and has authored the book *Money (The Art of Living)*. More recently, Eric has also co-authored a new book called *Angrynomics*. He joins the show today to talk about how to improve policymakers' responses to recessions. David and Eric also discuss helicopter drops, dual interest rates, and how governments can make monetary policy more direct.

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/04152019/how-respond-recessions

Eric's Twitter: @ericlonners

Eric's blog: https://www.philosophyofmoney.net/blog/

Related Links:

*Money: The Art of Living* by Eric Lonergan

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/money/486535FC2BE6ADB342A82A668584AE71

*Fixing the Euro Zone and Reducing Inequality, Without Fleecing the Rich* by Eric Lonergan and Mark Blyth

https://hbr.org/2015/01/fixing-the-euro-zone-and-reducing-inequality-without-fleecing-the-rich

David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Yair Listokin on the Convergence of Law and Macroeconomics Apr 08, 2019

Show notes

Yair Listokin is a professor of law at Yale Law School and is the author of a new book titled, *Law and Macroeconomics*. He joins the show today to talk about the book as well as some of his new work. David and Yair also discuss sovereign wealth funds, the legal limits of central banks, and how to expand fiscal policy while making it more effective.

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/04082019/law-and-macroeconomics

Yair's Yale Law School profile: https://law.yale.edu/yair-listokin

Related Links:

*Law and Macroeconomics: Legal Remedies to Recessions* by Yair Listokin

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674976054

David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Bryan Cutsinger on Seigniorage and the Monetary Economics of the Civil War Apr 01, 2019

Show notes

Bryan Cutsinger is an economist affiliated with Angelo State as well as Texas Tech University and recently published an article titled *Seigniorage in the Civil War South*. He joins the show today to talk about this article, the monetary history of the Civil War, and the economics of Seigniorage. David and Bryan also discuss how both the North and the South financed the war and why the South made some counterintuitive decisions in how they conducted monetary policy.

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/03292019/civil-war-and-economics-seigniorage

Bryan's website: https://www.bryancutsinger.com/

Bryan's George Mason profile: https://economics.gmu.edu/people/bcutsing

Related Links:

*Seigniorage in the Civil War South* by Bryan Cutsinger and Joshua Ingber

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014498318300470

*The Gold Standard as a Rule: An Essay in Exploration* by Michael Bordo and Finn Kydland

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014498385710194

*Financial Failure and Confederate Defeat* by Douglas Ball

https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Failure-Confederate-Defeat-Douglas/dp/0252017552

David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Paul Tucker on Central Bank Independence and *Unelected Power* Mar 25, 2019

Show notes

Paul Tucker is a 33-year veteran of the Bank of England where he served as both a member and deputy governor of the Monetary Policy Committee. Currently, Paul is a senior fellow at Harvard and a chair at the Systemic Risk Council. He has also recently authored a book, *Unelected Power: The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State* and joins the show today to discuss talk about it. David and Paul also discuss central bank independence and justifications for the existence of a regulatory state as well as Paul's "principles for delegation" criteria.

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/03252019/paul-tucker-central-bank-independence-and-unelected-power

Paul's website: http://paultucker.me/

Paul's Harvard University profile: https://ces.fas.harvard.edu/people/001970-paul-tucker

Related Links:

*Unelected Power: The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State* by Paul Tucker

https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11240.html

David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Chapters:

00:00:00-Intro

00:00:22-Skip Intro

01:02:26-Outro

James Broughel on the Social Discount Rate Mar 18, 2019

Show notes

James Broughel is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and an adjunct professor of law at George Mason University Law School. James specializes in state and federal regulatory procedures, cost-benefit analysis, and economic growth. He joins the show today to talk about a recent symposium he hosted on the social discount rate; what it is, its uses, and the controversy surrounding how to measure it. David and James also discuss cost-benefit analysis in the regulatory world and why the social discount rate matters for policy.

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/03182019/discounting-future

James' Twitter: @JamesBroughel

James' Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/james-broughel

Related Links:

*The Social Rate of Time Preference and the Social Discount Rate* by Mark Moore and Adam Vining

https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/moore_and_vining_-_mercatus_research_-_a_social_rate_of_time_preference_approach_to_social_discount_rate_-_v1.pdf

*The Appropriate Measure of the Social Discount Rate and Its Role in the Analysis of Policies with Long-Run Consequences* by David Burgess

https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/burgess_-_mercatus_research_-_the_appropriate_measure_of_the_social_discount_rate_and_its_role_in_the_analysis_of_policies_with_long-run_consequences_-_v1.pdf

*The Unsettled Matter of Discounting the Future* by James Broughel

https://www.mercatus.org/publications/regulation/social-discount-rate/unsettled-matter-discounting-future

*Equity or Efficiency? The Battle for the Soul of Benefit-Cost Analysis* by James Broughel

https://www.mercatus.org/publications/regulatory-analysis/equity-or-efficiency-battle-soul-benefit-cost-analysis

Amazon link to James' former band *Levy*: https://www.amazon.com/Levy/e/B001LHXCE2/ref=dp_byline_cont_music_1

David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Ryan Avent on Hyperinflation and the Fed's New Dovish Direction Mar 11, 2019

Show notes

Ryan Avent is an economics columnist with The Economist magazine and is a previous guest of Macro Musings. He joins the show today to talk about some of his recent columns including work on hyperinflation, the Green New Deal, and Fed policy. David and Ryan also discuss the growing popularity of Modern Monetary Theory, the Fed's dovish change in direction, and why hyperinflation is so devastating to a nation's economy.

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/03112019/hyperinflation-and-mmt

Ryan's Twitter: @ryanavent

Ryan's Economist profile: http://mediadirectory.economist.com/people/ryan-avent/

Related Links:

*Hyperinflations Can End Quickly, Given the Right Sort of Regime Change* by Ryan Avent

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2019/01/31/hyperinflations-can-end-quickly-given-the-right-sort-of-regime-change

*Taking the Fed at its Word: Direct Estimation of Central Bank Objectives using Text Analytics* by Adam Shapiro & Daniel Wilson

https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/files/wp2019-02.pdf

David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

146 – Michael Strain on the Current State of the Economy, the Green New Deal, and Populism on the Left and Right Mar 04, 2019

Show notes

Michael Strain is the director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, Michael worked in the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau and in the Macroeconomics Research Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He joins the show today to talk about recent developments in U.S. economic policy and some of his work on that topic. David and Michael also discuss the consequences of rising populism, MMT's impact on tax policy, and the issues Americans should be most worried about.

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/03042019/populism-mmt-and-billionaires

Michael's Twitter: @MichaelRStrain

Michael's AEI profile: https://www.aei.org/scholar/michael-r-strain/

Related Links:

*Economic Shocks and Clinging* by Michael Strain and Stan Veuger

https://ideas.repec.org/p/aei/rpaper/1004842.html

*Wealth Inequality in the United States Since 1913: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data* by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman

https://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/SaezZucman2014.pdf

*Going to Extremes, Politics After Financial Crisis: 1870-2014* by Manuel Funke, Moritz Schularick, and Christoph Trebesch

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2688897

*Modern Monetary Theory is a Joke That's Not Funny* by Michael Strain

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-17/modern-monetary-theory-would-sink-u-s-in-debt

David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

145 – George Selgin on *Floored!* Feb 25, 2019

Show notes

George Selgin is the director of the Cato Institute's Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Georgia, and a returning guest to show. For this special live episode, George joins Macro Musings to talk about his new book, *Floored: How a Misguided Fed Experiment Deepened and Prolonged the Great Recession.* David and George also discuss the liquidity coverage ratio, the Fed's transition from a corridor to a floor system, and the arguments for and against such an operating system.

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/02252019/floors-and-corridors

George's Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin

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

Related Links:

*The Fed Marches On* by George Selgin

https://www.alt-m.org/2019/01/31/the-fed-marches-on/

*Balance Sheet News* blog post by Stephen Williamson

http://newmonetarism.blogspot.com/2019/02/balance-sheet-news_21.html

David Beckworth's Twitter thread on the Fed's decision to stick with a floor system:

https://twitter.com/DavidBeckworth/status/1098956723501576192

David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

144 – Peter Stella on Debt, Safe Assets, and Central Bank Operations Feb 18, 2019

Show notes

Peter Stella is the managing director of Stellar Consulting and was formerly an IMF official where he led the central banking and monetary and foreign exchange divisions. Peter has researched and written extensively on safe assets, collateral, and central banking operations, and he joins the show today to discuss this work. David and Peter also discuss the Fed's large scale asset purchases, money and payment systems in advanced economies, and why the U.S. Treasury should start issuing bills to the Fed.

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/02182019/peter-stella-debt-safe-assets-and-central-bank-operations

Peter's Voxeu profile: https://voxeu.org/users/peterstella0

Peter's Research Gate archive: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Stella

David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth