86 - William A. Barnett on Divisia Aggregates and Measuring Money in the Economy

William A. Barnett is the Oswald Distinguished Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Kansas and Director of the Center for Financial Stability. Today, Bill joins the show to discuss his work on better measurement of monetary aggregates in the economy. David and Bill also discuss Bill’s book *Getting It Wrong,* which argues that old simple-sum aggregates of the money supply are obsolete and that more sophisticated aggregates (called Divisia aggregates) are more appropriate in making decisions related to monetary policy. In Bill’s view, better financial data and better measurement of monetary aggregates would have averted the recent financial crisis. Finally, Bill also explains how he went from being a rocket scientist to a macroeconomist! David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com Macro Musings podcast site: macromusings.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth William Barnett’s University of Kansas profile: https://economics.ku.edu/william-barnett The Center for Financial Stability homepage: http://www.centerforfinancialstability.org/ *Getting It Wrong: How Faulty Monetary Statistics Undermine the Fed, the Financial System, and the Economy* by William Barnett https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/getting-it-wrong