There are a lot of ways we could wrap up the year, but probably none better than to take a step back, look at 2018, and ask ourselves what the most important economic developments were.

From trade wars to interest rate hikes, inverting yield curves to tax reform implementation, a lot happened this year. We've asked our guests today to be prepared to talk about…well, just about everything.

We actually want to start with a disclaimer that we normally wouldn’t include, and it’s that we are recording this podcast in mid-December just before the Federal Reserve’s December press conference. Since we’re probably going to get to monetary policy and interest rates and all that, we mention that in case Fed Chair Jay Powell does something shocking or surprising and throws everything we’re about to talk about out the window.

With that out of the way, we're very happy to welcome some incredible guests to the show today:

• From the Washington Post, we’re joined by economics correspondent Heather Long. Heather is a consistently reliable source for economics news and analysis, and her Twitter feed is one of the best round-ups of economic news out there
• And returning to the show, we have David Beckworth. David heads up our monetary policy research here at Mercatus, and is the host of his own wildly successful economics podcast, Macro Musings

Check out mercatus.org and The Bridge for our latest research, publications, and podcast episodes.

If you love the show and want to grant Chad his number one Christmas wish this year, give us a rating on Apple Podcasts! It helps other podcast listeners find the show.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadMReese.

Today's What's on Tap beverage is Supreme Core's Ivy City Rosé. Check them out here!