Macro Musings

Skanda Amarnath is the Director of Research and Analysis at Employ America, Yakov Feygin is the Associate Director of the Future of Capitalism program at the Berggruen Institute, and Elizabeth Pancotti is a research assistant at the National Bureau of Economic Research and at Tufts University. Together, they have put together proposals on how to better address the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis at the state and local level. They join Macro Musings today to discuss these proposals, a municipal bond market and expanded unemployment insurance, as well as what it all means for making the US economy more of an optimal currency area. Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Skanda’s Twitter: @IrvingSwisher Skanda’s Medium profile: https://medium.com/@skanda_97974   Yakov’s Twitter: @BuddyYakov Yakov’s Berggruen Institute profile: https://www.berggruen.org/people/yakov-feygin/   Elizabeth’s Twitter: @ENPancotti Elizabeth’s website: https://sites.google

Jim Bianco, of Bianco Research, joins Macro Musings to discuss the latest on the economic impact from the coronavirus. David and Jim discuss the details and implications of the $2 Trillion Relief bill, the possibility of higher inflation, renewed threats to Fed independence, and implications for the Eurozone.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Jim’s Twitter: @biancoresearch Jim’s Bloomberg archive: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/authors/ABvwE0aTOvg/jim-bianco   Related Links: *The Fed's Cure Risks Being Worse Than the Disease* by Jim Bianco https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-27/federal-reserve-s-financial-cure-risks-being-worse-than-disease   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Robin Brooks is a chief economist at the Institute of International Finance and has previously worked for Goldman Sachs and the IMF. Robin joins Macro Musings to talk about the global economic implications of the novel coronavirus. David and Robin also discuss what is happening to output gap measures, where the global dollar cycle stands today, and the importance of dollar swap lines for emerging markets.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Robin’s Twitter: @RobinBrooksIIF Robin’s IIF profile: https://www.iif.com/About-Us/Our-Leadership   Related Links:   *Federal Reserve Announces Extensive New Measures to Support the Economy* https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20200323b.htm   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Stan Veuger is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute where he specializes in political economy and public finance. Stan joins us today to discuss his co-authored proposal to save American businesses and American jobs as well as his thoughts on how Europe is handling the crisis. Specifically, David and Stan discuss the Federal Reserve’s ability to support targeted business loans, how the crisis has been panning out in Europe, and the timeline to global recovery.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Stan’s Twitter: @stanveuger Stan’s AEI profile: https://www.aei.org/profile/stan-veuger/   Related Links:   *How to Help American Businesses Endure and Jobs Survive* by Stan Veuger and Steven Hamilton https://www.aei.org/economics/how-to-help-american-businesses-endure-and-jobs-survive/   *Throwing a COVID-19 Liquidity Life-Line* by Markus Brunnermeier, Jean-Pierre Landau, Marco Pagano, and Ricardo Reis https://scholar.princeton.ed

Claudia Sahm is the Director of Macroeconomic Policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and formerly was a section chief at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Claudia specializes in macroeconomics and household finance, and joins the show today to talk about what the Fed has recently done and what fiscal policy can do in response to the economic meltdown caused by COVID-19. Specifically, David and Claudia discuss sending out direct payments to individuals, what the Fed’s remaining toolkit may look like, and how the freshly minted Sahm Rule may be of paramount importance as this crisis continues to develop.    Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Claudia’s Twitter: @Claudia_Sahm Claudia’s Equitable Growth profile: https://equitablegrowth.org/people/claudia-sahm/   Related Links:   *The Case for a Big Coronavirus Stimulus* by Jason Furman  https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-case-for-a-big-coronavirus-stimulus-11583448500?

James Sweeney is the chief economist at Credit Suisse and joins us today as a part of our ongoing special coverage to talk about the coronavirus or COVID-19 and its implications for the economy. Specifically, David and James discuss what this pandemic means for the plumbing of the financial system, interest rates, and the type of recession we might experience.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   James’s Credit Suisse profile: https://www.credit-suisse.com/microsites/conferences/aic/en/speakers/cs-experts/james-sweeney.html   Related Links:   *Global Money Notes #27: Covid-19 and Global Dollar Funding* by Zoltan Pozsar and James Sweeney https://plus.credit-suisse.com/rpc4/ravDocView?docid=V7k0P32AC-WEqAJ7   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Megan Greene is a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School and a senior fellow in international economics at Chatham House. Formerly, Megan was a chief economist on Wall Street and she currently has a bi-weekly column in the Financial Times on global macroeconomics. She joins the show today to talk about the coronavirus and the appropriate policy response to it as well as the future countercyclical macro policy in the United States. David and Megan also discuss the Fed’s future framework, arguments against the recent 50 basis point rate cut, and why the Fed should consider following the ECB’s lead on TLTROs as well as negative interest rates.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Megan’s Twitter: @economistmeg Megan’s website: https://economistmeg.com/about/   Related Links:   *Coronavirus May Be Worse Than Wall Street Is Wagering* by Megan Greene https://www.ft.com/content/44c9391c-5489-11ea-a1ef-da1721a0541e   David’s blog: macromark

Ben Moll is a professor of economics at the London School of Economics, and is well known for his work on income and wealth distribution in macroeconomics and its implications for policy. Ben joins the show today to talk about this work and provide a look into the growing field of heterogeneous agent models. David and Ben also discuss the history of macro thought, the implications of different transmission mechanisms of monetary policy, and what HANK models mean for forward guidance and other more general makeup policies.   The transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Ben’s Twitter: @ben_moll Ben’s LSE website: https://benjaminmoll.com/   Related Links:   *Monetary Policy According to HANK* by Greg Kaplan, Ben Moll, and Giovanni Violante https://www.princeton.edu/~moll/HANK.pdf   *Household Balance Sheet Channels of Monetary Policy: A Back of the Envelope Calculation for the Euro Area* by Jiri Slacalek, Oreste Tristani, and Giovanni Violante https://c

Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a returning guest to Macro Musings. Scott joins the show today to talk about the recent market turmoil caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus and its implications for monetary policy.  David and Scott also discuss how the Fed should respond to a possible pandemic, why monetary policy is preferable to fiscal policy during a crisis, and how to approach the central bank credibility problem.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Scott’s blog: https://www.themoneyillusion.com/ Scott’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/scott-sumner   Related Links:   *It’s Time for the Fed to Take On the Coronavirus Threat* by David Beckworth https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/its-time-for-the-fed-to-take-on-the-coronavirus-threat/   *The Era of Fed Power is Over. Prepare for a More Perilous Road Ahead.* by Greg Ip https://www.wsj.co

Paul Schmelzing is an economic historian, a visiting scholar at the Bank of England and a postdoc at the Yale University School of Management. Paul has written an influential new paper on the long history of interest rates titled, "Eight centuries of global real interest rates, R-G, and the ‘suprasecular’ decline, 1311–2018." Specifically, Paul and David discuss the implications of this paper’s findings for secular stagnation theory, Thomas Piketty’s inegalitarian wealth spiral, and for macroeconomic policy more generally.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Paul’s Twitter: @paul_schmelzing Paul’s Harvard profile: https://scholar.harvard.edu/pfschmelzing/bio   Related Links:   * Eight Centuries of Global Real Interest Rates, R-G, and the ‘Suprasecular’ Decline, 1311–2018* by Paul Schmelzing https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/working-paper/2020/eight-centuries-of-global-real-interest-rates-r-g-and-the-suprasecular-decline-1311-2018   David’s blog

Ernie Tedeschi is a policy economist and the head of fiscal analysis at Evercore ISI, a macro advisory firm. He is also an occasional contributor to The Upshot section at The New York Times. Previously, Ernie was a senior advisor and an economist at the US Department of Treasury. His research interests include the federal budget, monetary policy, and labor markets. Ernie joins the show to talk about output gaps, full employment, labor markets, and the state of the economy. Specifically, Ernie and David discuss Ernie’s recent articles titled *Participation in the Hot Labor Market* and *Pay is Rising Fastest for Low Earners, One Reason? Minimum Wages.*   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/monetary-policy   Ernie’s Twitter: @ernietedeschi Ernie’s blog: https://medium.com/bonothesauro   Related Links:   *Participation and the Hot Labor Market* by Ernie Tedeschi https://medium.com/@employamerica/participation-and-the-hot-labor-market-a84ef77a3bb1   *Pay is Rising

Brent Skorup is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center where he specializes in transportation technology, telecommunications, aviation, and wireless policy. Brent also serves on the FCC’s broadband deployment advisory committee and the Texas Department of Transportation’s autonomous vehicle task force, and he has recent spoke on the topic of airspace design at the Global Air Traffic Management Conference in Dubai. He joins the show today to talk about the future of transportation, including flying cars and highways in the sky. Brent and David also discuss the concept of auctioning airspace, the macroeconomic implications of technological innovation, and how to build or improve infrastructure for autonomous vehicles in the future.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/02102020/brent-skorup-autonomous-vehicles-flying-cars-and-airspace-scarce-resource   Brent’s Twitter: @bskorup Brent’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/brent-skorup   Related Links:  

Marc Lavoie is a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa and an author a recent article on the Bank of Canada’s operating system. Marc is also the coauthor of a popular textbook titled, *Monetary Economics: An integrated Approach to Credit, Money, Income, Production, and Wealth.* He joins the show today to talk about these works and more. David and Marc also discuss differences between post-Keynesian and mainstream macroeconomics, the history and defining characteristics of Canada’s corridor operating system, and what ideal central bank policy might look like for Canada in the future.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/02032020/marc-lavoie-canadian-central-bank-policy-real-time-payments-and-post   Marc’s University of Ottawa profile: https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/942/profile Marc’s Institute for New Economic Thinking archive: https://www.ineteconomics.org/research/experts/mlavoie   Related Links:   *A System with Zero Reserves and with Clearing Outside of

Joseph Gagnon is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and formerly, a senior staffer at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Joseph is also a returning guest to Macro Musings, and he joins the show today to discuss his recent policy brief titled, “Are Central Banks Out of Ammunition to Fight a Recession? Not quite.” Specifically, David and Joseph discuss the variety of monetary policy tools available to central banks to combat the next recession (with special emphasis on the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and Bank of Japan). Joseph also makes the case that the ECB should adopt a formal review of its monetary policy framework.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/01242020/joseph-gagnon-central-banks%E2%80%99-ability-fight-next-recession   Joseph’s Twitter: @GagnonMacro Joseph’s PIIE profile: https://www.piie.com/experts/senior-research-staff/joseph-e-gagnon   Related Links:   *Are Central Banks Out of Ammunition to Fight a Recessi

Title: Macro Musings Producers’ Special – A Recap of 2019 and a Glimpse into the Future   Description:   To accompany the new year, David Beckworth is joined by the producers of Macro Musings, Marc and Carter, to talk about the highlights of the podcast throughout 2019, including their personal favorite episodes and the top episodes according to listener statistics. They also discuss some of the most important macroeconomic issues and events of the past year, including the yield curve inversion and ensuing recession speculation, the secular decline of interest rates, the Fed’s big 2019 review, and more.   A massive thank you to all of our listeners who have tuned in over the past few years, and we hope you continue to tune in for more exciting content as we navigate through 2020.   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth   Related Links:   Producers’ Top 3 Episodes:   Robert Graboyes: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/05132019/robert-graboyes-monetary-history-sma

Eric Sims is the chair of the economics department at the University of Notre Dame and is a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank. Eric, along with his colleague, Cynthia Wu, have a number of recent papers addressing monetary policy in low interest rate environments, including a keynote paper presented this past summer at the Chicago Fed Conference that was part of the Fed's big review this year. He joins the show today to talk about this work, focusing on the latest developments in New Keynesian modelling and the current state of macroeconomic research. Specifically, David and Eric discuss the Four Equation New Keynesian Model, the Desirability of NGDP Targeting, and the welfare and cyclical implications of moderate trend inflation.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/commentary/eric-sims-new-keynesian-modelling-and-future-macroeconomics-low-interest-rate   Eric’s Notre Dame profile: https://www3.nd.edu/~esims1/ Eri

Peter Conti-Brown is an assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution. Peter is also a historian and a legal scholar specializing in the study of the Federal Reserve and is a returning guest to Macro Musings. He joins the show today to talk about his new paper, *Restoring the Promise of Federal Reserve Governance*. Specifically, David and Peter discuss the institutional history of the Federal Reserve Board, the lack of transparency in the Fed appointment process, and why we should consider raising Fed governor salaries in the future.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/01062020/peter-conti-brown-restoring-promise-federal-reserve-governance   Peter’s Twitter: @PeterContiBrown Peter’s Wharton profile: https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/petercb/   Related Links:   *Restoring the Promise of Federal Reserve Governance* by Peter Conti-Brown https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/conti-brown-f

Josh Galper is the managing principal of Finadium, an independent consultancy in capital markets based out of New York City. He joins the show today as part of a two week special on the Fed and repo markets, as he helps us take a look at recent repo market stress from the private sector. Specifically, David and Josh discuss the current state of US repo markets, key bottlenecks that have arisen in 2019, and a balanced proposal to restoring stability in capital markets.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/12232019/josh-galper-current-state-repo-markets-key-bottlenecks-and-balanced   Josh’s Twitter: @Finadium Josh’s Finadium profile: https://finadium.com/josh-galper-mba/   Related Links:   Finadium’s homepage: http://finadium.com Finadium’s magazine: http://securitiesfinancemonitor.com   *US Repo at Year-End 2019: The Hard Choices Ahead* by Josh Galper https://finadium.com/finadium-us-repo-at-year-end-2019-the-hard-choices-ahead/   *Are New Repo Participants Gaining Ground?*

George Selgin is the director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives and is a returning guest to the Macro Musings podcast. He joins the show today as part of a two week special on the Fed and repo markets, as he helps us take a look at recent repo market stress from the Fed’s perspective. Specifically, David and George discuss the basics of the Fed’s balance sheet, the problematic nature of the Treasury General Account and foreign repo pools, and how George would tweak standing repo facility proposals to more directly address balance sheet volatility.    Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/12162019/george-selgin-repo-market-stress-fed-balance-sheet-volatility-and-standing   George’s Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin George’s Cato profile: https://www.cato.org/people/george-selgin   Related Links:   *Stop the Presses! Or, How the Fed Can Avoid Reserve Shortages without Bulking-Up, Part 1* by George Selgin https://www.alt-m.org/2019/11/12/dtop-the-presse

Robert Samuelson is an economics columnist for the Washington Post and spent several decades working at Newsweek, where he wrote on various economic topics. Robert is the author of several books, including *The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement* and *The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence*. He joins the show today to talk about the latter and its implications for today. David and Robert go in-depth about the Great Inflation, as they discuss the disagreement within macroeconomics during the 60s and 70s, the history and significance of the period, and how Ronald Reagan and Paul Volcker sought to end the inflation.   Tributes to Paul Volcker:   *Remembering Paul Volcker, The Man Who Tamed Inflation* by Scott Sumner https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/473963-remembering-paul-volcker-the-man-who-tamed-inflation   *Paul Volcker’s Legacy* by Scott Sumner https://www.econlib.org/paul-volckers-legacy/   *How Paul Volcker Beat Inflatio