Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity

Interstate migration has declined in the U.S. in recent decades, suggesting that workers are less likely to move in order to find employment. Such a trend would have significant policy implications for state and local governments, as well as at the federal level. But new research by Andrea Foschi, Christopher L. House, Christian Proebsting, and Linda L. Tesar suggests that it isn’t workers who have changed as much as differences in regional economies. On this episode of the Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity, House and Tesar join Brookings Senior Fellow Tara Watson to discuss the findings of their new paper, “Should I Stay or Should I go? The response of labor migration to economic shocks.” Show notes and transcript The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck national economies like a hammer. As the disease spread, workers went home, businesses were empty, and economic indicators crashed. Now, five years later, the U.S. economy looks in many ways like it did pre-pandemic, with GDP back on to the pre-pandemic trend and unemployment down to around 4% after spiking to over 10% in 2020. On this episode of the Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity, Brookings Senior Fellow Louise Sheiner is joined by Harvard University’s James Stock to discuss his new paper, “Recovering from COVID,” in which he and coauthor Mark Watson of Princeton explore the amazing economic recovery from the pandemic recession and the implications for future policymaking. Show notes and transcript The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

Housing prices nationally are at an all-time high, including in many metro areas that were previously considered affordable alternatives to coastal markets. While prices have been rising over recent decades, the average growth rates of housing stock have been in decline. In a new BPEA paper, Edward Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko explore the evolving dynamics of the U.S. housing market, focusing on six metropolitan areas and in particular on steep housing stock decreases in Sun Belt cities. On this episode of the Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity, Gyourko joins Brookings Vice President and Director of Economic Studies Ben Harris to discuss the paper’s findings and potential policies to boost affordable housing supply. Show notes and transcript The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

The discussion dives into the massive U.S. Treasury market, highlighting its crucial role in global finance. Experts explore the impact of federal debt on market stability and the significance of Treasury securities in influencing interest rates. The conversation also covers the dynamics between key players like asset managers and hedge funds, especially during volatile moments like the COVID-19 crisis. Proposed strategies for the Federal Reserve aim to enhance market resilience while addressing risks associated with hedge fund activities.

Maurice Obstfeld, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and author of "The U.S. Trade Deficit: Myths and Realities," dives into the complexities of the U.S. trade deficit. He discusses how domestic policies shape the trade imbalance, rather than just external pressures. The conversation highlights the impact of recent tariffs and examines misconceptions around the trade deficit's causes, including the historic shift from surpluses to persistent deficits. Obstfeld also explores implications for manufacturing jobs and the overall economy.

Christina Romer, Former Chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, and Brian Sack, Former Executive VP of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, discuss the Federal Reserve's upcoming 2025 review of its monetary policy framework. They explore how the challenges of the past few years, such as COVID-19 and supply chain issues, have impacted policy effectiveness. The conversation highlights the need for adaptable strategies, critiques previous inflation responses, and suggests improvements in communication and implementation for future monetary policy.

Conor Walsh, an economist at Columbia Business School, discusses the potential economic ripple effects of the clean energy transition. He reveals how cheap electricity from solar and wind could boost national wages by 2-3%. Walsh highlights the impact of lower energy costs on manufacturing and regional growth. He also explores the challenges of rising electricity demand and the importance of upgrading transmission infrastructure. The conversation sheds light on the overlooked economic benefits of clean energy and its role in wage growth.

Fiscal deficit projections are used by policymakers to understand the trajectory of U.S. debt. Between 1984 and 2003, Congress was responsive to these projections, raising taxes and cutting spending when projections showed that the deficit would grow. However, since 2004, fiscal policy has ceased being responsive to debt projections regardless of the party in power. In a new paper, “Robust Fiscal Stabilization,” Alan Auerbach and Danny Yagan of the University of California, Berkeley, quantify this phenomenon by comparing fiscal legislation across the two periods. On this episode, Auerbach discusses the findings and their implications with Brookings Senior Fellow William Gale. Show notes and transcript The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

When Congress considers legislation, nonpartisan agencies provide estimates of the law’s potential economic effects to policymakers, a process known as “scoring.” In recent decades, analysts at the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation have developed models that incorporate complex feedback effects, going beyond conventional scoring techniques. These “dynamic scoring” methods can produce significantly different estimates of a law’s economic impact, but there are tradeoffs in applying them in different policy areas. On this episode Doug Elmendorf and Glenn Hubbard join Wendy Edelberg, director of The Hamilton Project, for a discussion on the costs and benefits of dynamic scoring. Show notes and transcript The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.

Since 2022, Western nations have put a number of sanctions on Russia in response to its war in Ukraine. Policymakers and pundits have debated the efficacy of these measures, but this debate is belied by a deeper question: what does it mean for sanctions to “work”? In new BPEA research, Oleg Itskhoki of Harvard and Elina Ribakova of the Peterson Institute for International Economics explore fundamental questions of the theory and practice of sanctions in the Russia context. On this episode of the Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity, Ben Harris, director of Economic Studies at Brookings, joins the authors for a discussion on what’s next for Russia and developing a doctrine of economic statecraft. Show notes and transcript The Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu.