Macro Musings

Daniela Gabor is a professor of economics and macrofinance at the University of West England at Bristol, where she works on shadow banking, capital markets, and transnational banking. Daniela is also a returning guest to the podcast, and she has a new paper out on the burgeoning field of critical macrofinance and how it sheds light on the past great financial crisis (2007-2009) and the present COVID-19 crisis. She re-joins Macro Musings to discuss this paper and how it can offer important insight into the current global economic environment.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Daniela’s Twitter: @DanielaGabor Daniela’s UWE Bristol profile: https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/DanielaGabor   Related Links:   *Critical Macro-Finance: A Theoretical Lens* by Daniela Gabor http://financeandsociety.ed.ac.uk/article/view/4408   *The Role of Time-Critical Liquidity in Financial Markets* by David Marshall and Robert Steigerwald https://www.chicagofed.org/

Darrell Duffie is a professor of finance at Stanford University, and he joins Macro Musings to discuss the treasury market problems that emerged in March 2020 and what can be done to avoid them in the future. Specifically, Darrell and David lay out the current state of financial markets, the ability of treasury markets, as currently designed, to handle demand shocks, and how central banking reforms can better ensure financial stability in the future.   Register here for the Cato Institute/Mercatus Center Webinar Series - *A Fed for Next Time: Ideas for a Crisis‐​Ready Central Bank*: https://www.cato.org/events/fed-next-time-ideas-crisis-ready-central-bank Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Darrell’s Twitter: @DuffieDarrell Darrell’s website: https://www.darrellduffie.com/ Darrell’s Stanford profile: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/darrell-duffie   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Darrell: https://youtu.be/0Y3MTjgbP74  

Peter Stella is a former IMF official, where he led the Central Banking and Monetary and Foreign Exchange divisions, and he now hosts a webpage titled *Central Bank Archeology*. Peter is also a former guest of Macro Musings, and rejoins to talk about the COVID-19 crisis, central bank balance sheets, and more. David and Peter also discuss the dangers and challenges of the Fed’s off-balance sheet transactions, how the government should approach crisis financing, and who should be managing the country’s public debt.   The transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Peter’s Twitter: @Stellar_Consult Peter’s Voxeu profile: https://voxeu.org/users/peterstella0 Peter’s Research Gate archive: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Stella   Related Links:   Peter's *Central Bank Archaeology* website: https://www.centralbankarchaeology.com/   *Macro Musings: Peter Stella on Debt, Safe Assets, and Central Bank Operations* https://macromusings.libsyn.com/144-pe

Adam Tooze is a professor of history at Columbia University, and is the author of many books, including his popular account of the 2007-2009 crisis, titled Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crisis Changed the World. Adam joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the COVID-19 crisis, the Eurozone, and the future of central banking. Specifically, Adam and David break down recent events and risks in the global financial system, the future of the dollar as reserve currency, and the implications of the recent German-Franco debt deal for the Eurozone.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Adam’s Twitter: @adam_tooze Adam’s Columbia profile: https://history.columbia.edu/faculty/adam-tooze/ Adam’s website: https://adamtooze.com/   Related Links:   *How Coronavirus Almost Brought Down the Global Financial System* by Adam Tooze https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/14/how-coronavirus-almost-brought-down-the-global-financial-system)   *The Death o

Alp Simsek is an associate professor of economics at MIT, and joins Macro Musings to talk about the link between financial markets, uncertainty and the COVID-19 crisis. Specifically, David and Alp discuss the dual absorption problem within financial markets, how supply shocks and demand shocks have inescapably become interwoven phenomenon, and why we should look to using macroprudential policy in the future.   The transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Alp’s Twitter: @alpsimsek_econ Alp’s MIT profile: https://economics.mit.edu/faculty/asimsek   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Alp: https://youtu.be/eoGxYcWmH9E   *A Risk-centric Model of Demand Recessions and Speculation* by Ricardo Caballero and Alp Simsek https://www.nber.org/papers/w23614   *A Model of Asset Price Spirals and Aggregate Demand Amplification of a ‘COVID-19’ Shock* by Ricardo Caballero and Alp Simsek https://www.nber.org/papers/w27044   *Prudential Monetary Policy* by Ricardo Cabal

Thomas Hoenig is a former vice chair of the FDIC, former president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, and is currently a distinguished senior fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Tom’s research has focused on the long-term impact of the politicization of financial services, as well as the effects of government grant privileges on market performance. Tom joins David on Macro Musings to talk about COVID-19, the Fed's response to its economic impact, and the current state of banking in the United States.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Thomas’s Twitter: @tom_hoenig Thomas’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/thomas-hoenig   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Thomas: https://youtu.be/CrA1WRtu0jc   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Professor Emeritus of economics at Bentley University, and a research fellow at the Independent Institute. As a returning guest to the podcast, Scott joins Macro Musings to give his latest thoughts on the COVID-19 crisis and its implications for monetary policy. Specifically, David and Scott discuss how the Fed can conduct more aggressive monetary policy, what a level targeting regime should look like in the future, and the current progression toward negative interest rates.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Scott’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/scott-sumner Scott’s blog: https://www.themoneyillusion.com/   Related Links:   Scott's bonus segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8DXU_1oIsg&feature=youtu.be   *Reforming the Fed’s Toolkit and Quantitative Easing Practices: A Plan to Achieve Level Targeting

Lev Menand is a legal scholar at Columbia Law School and has previously worked for the New York Fed, the US Treasury Department, and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). Lev Joins Macro Musings to talk about his new paper, *Unappropriated Dollars: The Fed’s Ad Hoc Lending Facilities and the Rules that Govern Them*. Specifically, David and Lev discuss opening up public Fed bank accounts, the importance of liquidity and credit facilities, and how Congress is using the CARES Act to skirt the Fed’s current legal mandates.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Lev’s Twitter: @LevMenand Lev’s Columbia Law profile: https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/lev-menand   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Lev: https://youtu.be/N9qndjjju9A   *Unappropriated Dollars: The Fed’s Ad Hoc Lending Facilities and the Rules That Govern Them* by Lev Menand https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3602740   *FedAccounts* by Morgan Ricks, John C

Martin Hellwig is the director of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about the Eurozone and the implications of the recent German Constitutional Court (GCC) ruling for the future of the monetary union. David and Martin specifically discuss the background of the perceived Eurozone crisis, the power struggle between the GCC and the European Court of Justice, and how this case may lead to a total breakdown of the Eurozone.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Martin’s MPI profile: https://www.coll.mpg.de/martin-hellwig   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Martin: https://youtu.be/1POrO_8VcM0   *The Leverage Ratchet Effect* by Anat Admati, Peter DeMarzo, Martin Hellwig and Paul Pfleiderer https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/working-papers/leverage-ratchet-effect   *German Court Has Set a Bomb Under the EU Legal Order* by Martin Sandbu https://www.ft.com/content/79484c01-b66b-4f81-

Nathan Tankus is the director of research at the Modern Money Network, and a research fellow at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity. Nathan is also the author of a number of articles on the Fed's recent activity at his Substack page titled “Notes on the Crises.” Nathan joins Macro Musings to talk about the post-Keynesian view of money, central bank independence, and the consolidated view of public finance, as well as evaluate the policy responses by the Fed and Congress to COVID-19.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Nathan’s Twitter: @NathanTankus Nathan’s Substack page: https://nathantankus.substack.com/   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Nathan: https://youtu.be/VPl0LYgttYI   *Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies: A Collection of Statements Submitted to the Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies by Government Officials, Bankers, Economists, and Others (specifically a comment made by Albert G. Hart) by the Joint

Anat Admati is a professor of finance and economics at Stanford University, and is well-known for her work on leveraging debt in our financial system and how it makes our economy more susceptible to shocks. She’s also a co-author of the popular book, *The Banker’s New Clothes: What Went Wrong with Banking and What to Do About It*. Anat joins Macro Musings again to talk about the COVID-19 crisis from the debt perspective, how the Fed and Congress have responded so far, and how their relief efforts should have been focused differently.      The transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Anat’s Twitter: @anatadmati Anat’s website: https://admati.people.stanford.edu/   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Anat: https://youtu.be/4xHmmgoURqg   *The Banker’s New Clothes: What’s Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It* by Anat Admati and Martin Hellwig https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691162386/the-bankers-new-clothes   *The Leverage Ratchet Ef

Kathryn Judge is the Harvey J. Goldschmid Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, the editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation, and an expert on financial markets, financial regulation, and regulatory architecture. Kathryn joins Macro Musings to discuss the CARES Act, the Fed's role and its limitations regarding COVID-19 relief efforts, and the political implications of relief effort performance.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Kathryn's Twitter: @ProfKateJudge Kathryn's Columbia profile: https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/kathryn-judge   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Kathryn: https://youtu.be/iFub37lpq2c   *The Design Flaw at the Heart of the CARES Act* by Kathryn Judge   https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathrynjudge/2020/04/20/the-design-flaw-at-the-heart-of-the-cares-act/#21495f0e6bed   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde is a professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania, a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research affiliate with the Center for Economic Policy Research, and a returning guest to the podcast. Jesus specializes in macroeconomic modeling and economic history among other topics, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about COVID-19, central bank digital currency, and developments in the Eurozone. David and Jesus also discuss the history of central banks and the interacting public, how threatening inflation could become a useful tool for a central bank, and the value economic modeling could add to the epidemiological field.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Jesus’s UPenn profile: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jesusfv/ Jesus’s NBER archive: https://www.nber.org/people/jesus_fernandez-villaverde   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Jesus: https://youtu.be/CA6y9LqjDwQ   *Estimating and

George Selgin is the Director of the Cato Institute Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives and a returning guest to Macro Musings. He joins David to break down recent policy actions by the Federal Reserve and some of the resulting challenges, as they break down the Treasury’s recent $454 billion backstop on Federal Reserve lending, the complex array of new Fed lending facilities in response to COVID-19, and the Fed’s evolving role in the global economy.   The transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   George’s Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin George’s Cato profile: https://www.cato.org/people/george-selgin   Related Links:   Bonus segment with George: https://youtu.be/Q73pWOeldf4   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Mehrsa Baradaran is a professor of law at the University of California Irvine and researches banking law, financial inclusion, inequality, and the racial wealth gap. Her scholarship includes the books, *How the Other Half Banks* and *The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap.* Mehrsa joins Macro Musings to talk about the impact of COVID-19 and how existing wealth conditions and financial access challenges are exacerbating the crisis. David and Mehrsa also discuss the historical context for the racial wealth gap, why banking deserts are so consequential, and how a postal savings system may be a solution to the financial inclusion problem.   Transcripts for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Mehrsa’s Twitter: @MehrsaBaradaran Mehrsa’s UCI profile: https://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/baradaran/   Related Links:   Link to bonus segment with Mehrsa: https://youtu.be/AcH3c89ZtKY   *How the Other Half Banks: Exclusion, Exploitation, and the Threa

Nicholas Bloom is a professor of economics at Stanford University and a leading scholar on management, productivity, innovation and economic uncertainty. Nick is a previous guest of Macro Musings and returns to share his thoughts on COVID-19 and what it means for the US economy, both in the short-run and in the long-run. David and Nick also discuss the impact of the virus on the future of urban living, on the economics profession as a whole, and who will bear the biggest brunt of these impacts.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Nick’s NBER archive: https://www.nber.org/people/nick_bloom Nick’s Stanford profile: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/nicholas-bloom   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Nick: https://youtu.be/q2M0TLwV_Xw   *COVID-Induced Economic Uncertainty* by Scott R. Baker, Nicholas Bloom, Steven J. Davis, and Stephen J. Terry. https://www.nber.org/papers/w26983   *U.S. Economic Activity During the Early

Brad Setser is a senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he works on macroeconomics, global capital flows, and financial crisis issues. Brad has previously served as the deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Treasury, working on Europe’s financial crisis, currency policy, financial sanctions, commodity shocks, and Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, and was the director for international economics on the staff of the National Economic Council and the National Security Council. As a returning guest to the show, Brad joins Macro Musings once again to discuss dollars swap lines and other solutions to the global dollar shortage, the recent implications of COVID-19 on global trade imbalances, and how China should respond to the effects of this crisis.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Brad’s Twitter: @Brad_Setser Brad’s CFR profile: https://www.cfr.org/expert/brad-w-setser   Related Links:   Bonus segment with

Alex Tabarrok is a professor of economics at George Mason University and a research fellow at the Mercatus Center. Alex joins David Beckworth on the podcast to discuss how best to deal with COVID-19 and what lessons we can learn from it moving forward.     Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Alex’s Twitter: @ATabarrok Alex’s GMU profile: https://mason.gmu.edu/~atabarro/   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Tabarrok: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQUnnumgXvw&feature=youtu.be   *Pandemic Policy in Developing Countries: Recommendations for India* by Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok https://www.mercatus.org/publications/covid-19-policy-brief-series/pandemic-policy-developing-countries-recommendations-india   Chad Brown’s PIIE archive, which include a series of articles related to COVID-19 and its impact on trade: https://www.piie.com/experts/senior-research-staff/chad-p-bown   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter:

Ashoka Mody is a professor of international economic policy at Princeton University, has formerly worked at the IMF and the World Bank, and is a returning guest to Macro Musings. In this episode, he joins David to discuss the global economic implications of COVID-19 and what it specifically means for Europe and the Eurozone.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Ashoka’s Twitter: @AshokaMody Ashoka’s Princeton profile: https://scholar.princeton.edu/amody/home   Related Links:   Cover of Ashoka's new paperback book: https://i.imgur.com/1IYWBAk.jpg   Bonus segment with Ashoka Mody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZsAetHdzjA&feature=youtu.be   *Charting the Crisis* by Ashoka Mody http://econbrowser.com/archives/2020/03/guest-contribution-charting-this-crisis   *Euro Tragedy: A Drama in Nine Acts* by Ashoka Mody https://global.oup.com/academic/product/eurotragedy-9780199351381?cc=us&lang=en&   *Credit Booms Gone Bust: Monetary Policy, Leverage Cycles,

Peter Conti-Brown – a legal scholar and financial historian at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a Nonresident Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution – returns to Macro Musings to discuss the new Fed-Treasury relationship that is emerging in the wake of the war against COVID-19. Peter and David breakdown the CARES Act, the aggressive and extensive policies recently taken by the Fed, and the implications for monetary policy moving forward.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Peter’s Twitter: @PeterContiBrown Peter’s Brookings profile: https://www.brookings.edu/author/peter-conti-brown/ Peter’s Wharton profile: https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/petercb/   Related Links:   *Explaining the New Fed-Treasury Emergency Fund* by Peter Conti-Brown https://www.brookings.edu/research/explaining-the-new-fed-treasury-emergency-fund/   *What’s the Fed Doing in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis? What More Could it Do?* by Jeffrey