Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Brian Sack was recently the Director of Global Economics at the D.E. Shaw Group, and prior to that, he was the manager of the System Open Market Account or SOMA and the head of the Markets Group at the New York Federal Reserve bank, where he managed the Fed’s balance sheet. Brian joins Macro Musings to talk about the central bank’s balance sheet, its operating system, and his work at the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee. Specifically, David and Brian discuss the current state of the Fed’s balance sheet, Brian’s theory of QE, how to improve the effectiveness of the floor system, and a lot more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Brian’s LinkedIn profile Brian’s Google Scholar archive   David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox! Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!   Related Links:   *Monetary Policy with Abundant Liquidity: A New Operating Framework for the Federal Reserve* by Joseph Gagnon and Brian Sack   *Monetary Policy Alternatives at the Zero Lower Bound: An Empirical Assessment* by Ben Bernanke, Vincent Reinhart, and Brian Sack

Mark Calabria was the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and prior to that, he was formerly a chief economist for Vice President Mike Pence. Mark is also a previous guest of Macro Musings, and he rejoins the podcast to talk about his new book titled, Shelter From the Storm: How a COVID Mortgage Meltdown Was Averted. Specifically, David and Mark discuss Mark’s time as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the relief programs his agency ushered through during the peak of the COVID crisis, the history and handling of Fannie and Freddie, and a lot more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Mark’s Twitter: @MarkCalabria Mark’s Cato Institute profile   David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox! Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!   Related Links:   *Shelter From the Storm: How a COVID Mortgage Meltdown Was Averted* by Mark Calabria

George Hall is a professor of economics at Brandeis University, and was formerly an economist at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. In this bonus segment from the previous conversation, George rejoins the podcast to talk about how the US handled the surge in debt resulting from World War II, how COVID changed government financing, his thoughts on the debt ceiling crisis, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   George’s Twitter: @George_J_Hall George’s Brandeis profile   David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox! Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!   Related Links:   *Brief History of US Debt Limits Before 1939* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent   *Financing Big US Federal Expenditures Surges: COVID-19 and Earlier US Wars* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent   *Debt and Taxes in Eight U.S. Wars and Two Insurrections* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent

George Hall is a professor of economics at Brandeis University, and was formerly an economist at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. George has written widely on the history of U.S. public finance, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about the history of the U.S. national debt, including the most recent surge resulting from the pandemic. David and George also discuss how a government goes about funding itself, two different models of expenditure financing, the Revolutionary War and Civil War as case studies, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   George’s Twitter: @George_J_Hall George’s Brandeis profile   David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox! Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!   Related Links:   *Financing Big US Federal Expenditures Surges: COVID-19 and Earlier US Wars* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent   *Debt and Taxes in Eight U.S. Wars and Two Insurrections* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent   *Three World Wars: Fiscal-monetary Consequences* by George Hall and Thomas Sargent

Bill Nelson is a chief economist and executive vice president of the Bank Policy Institute and was previously a deputy director of the Division of Monetary Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board, where his responsibilities included monetary policy analysis, discount window policy analysis, and financial institution supervision. He also worked closely with the BIS working groups on the design of liquidity regulations and is a previous guest of the podcast. Bill rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the Fed’s balance sheet, and in particular, the impact that the Fed’s response to the recent banking turmoil has had on its size, as well as the role being played by the Overnight Reverse Repo Facility. David and Bill also discuss the changes in collateral treatment brought about by the banking crisis, the invocation of 13(3) for the Bank Term Funding Program, the recent volume of discount window lending, and a lot more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Bill’s BPI profile BPI’s Twitter: @bankpolicy   David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox! Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!   Related Links:   *Why is the Federal Reserve Abetting a Drain of Deposits from Banks?* by Bill Nelson and Greg Baer   *I Don’t Know Why She Swallowed a Fly* by Bill Nelson   *The Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet: Costs to Taxpayers of Quantitative Easing* by Bill Nelson and Andy Levin

Kate Judge is a professor of law at Columbia Law School and the editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation, and Peter Conti-Brown is an associate professor of financial regulation and the co-director of the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania. Both are also returning guests to the podcast, and they rejoin Macro Musings to talk about the banking panic of 2023 and the lessons learned so far. Specifically, Kate, Peter, and David discuss how the scene was set for this recent banking crisis, the quality of the policy response, how to reform the banking system moving forward, and a lot more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Kate’s Twitter: @ProfKateJudge Kate’s Columbia Law profile   Peter’s Twitter: @PeterContiBrown Peter’s UPenn profile   David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox! Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!   Related Links:   *Towards an Administrative Law of Central Banking* by Peter Conti-Brown, Yair Listokin, and Nicholas Parrillo   *Money Market Funds Swell by More Than $286bn Amid Deposit Flight* by Brooke Masters, Marriet Clarfelt, and Kate Duguid   *’The Fed Has Mishandled This About 7 Different Ways’: SVB Rescue Sparks Backlash* by Victoria Guida   *Scrap the Bank Deposit Insurance Limit* by Lev Menand and Morgan Ricks

Brian Riedl is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute where he focuses on budget, tax, and economic policy issues. Previously, he worked for six years as chief economist for Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and as staff director of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth. He also served as director of budget and spending for Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and was the lead architect of the 10-year deficit reduction plan for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Brian joins Macro Musings to talk about the outlook of US public finance and the tough choices ahead. Specifically, David and Brian also discuss the surging US debt to GDP ratio, the shortfalls of Republican and Democratic plans for budget reform, Brian’s preferable policy path forward, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Brian’s Twitter: @Brian_Riedl Brian’s Manhattan Institute profile   David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox! Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!   Related Links:   *Biden’s Promises on Social Security and Medicare Have No Basis in Reality* by Brian Riedl   *Biden Is Set to Detail Nearly $3 Trillion in Measures to Reduce Deficits* by Jim Tankersley

Steven Kelly is a senior research associate at the Yale Program on Financial Stability and is a previous guest of the podcast. Steven rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the recent bank collapses at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature, the government response, and what this means for financial stability policy in the present and future. David and Steven also discuss the role that interest rate risk and macro policy played in SVB’s failure, the debate over the systemic nature of this crisis, the implementation and use of the Bank Term Funding Program, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Steven’s Twitter: @StevenKelly49 Steven’s Substack: Without Warning   David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox! Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!   Related Links:   Steven Kelly Twitter thread on SVB   Daniela Gabor Twitter thread on SVB   *Was This a Bailout? Skeptics Descend on Silicon Valley Bank Response* by Jeanna Smialek and Alan Rappeport   *Monetary Tightening and U.S. Bank Fragility in 2023: Mark-to-Market Losses and Uninsured Depositor Runs?* by Erica Jiang, Gregor Matvos, Tomasz Piskorski, and Amit Seru

Derek Tang is the CEO and co-founder of LH Meyer, and is part of the research team based in Washington, D.C. where he forecasts Fed policy developments, provides bespoke policy analysis to institutional investors, and also closely monitors and forecasts the Fed’s balance sheet. Derek joins David on Macro Musings to talk about Fed policy, Fed politics, and what to expect in 2023 and 2024. Specifically, David and Derek discuss numerous personnel changes at the Fed, the future of the central bank’s balance sheet, the upcoming Congressional agenda for the Fed, what the next framework review has in store, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Derek’s Twitter: @macroderek Derek’s LH Meyer bio   David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox! Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!   Related Links:   *The Federal Reserve’s Current Framework for Monetary Policy: A Review and Assessment* by Janice Eberly, James Stock, and Jonathan Wright   *The Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet: Costs to Taxpayers of Quantitative Easing* by Andy Levin and Bill Nelson

Joey Politano is an economist and commentator who writes regularly on his Substack newsletter titled, Apricitas Economics. Joey is also a previous guest of the podcast, and he rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the state of the US economy, inflation, Fed policy, and much more. Specifically, David and Joey discuss the results of the Fed’s ongoing rate hikes, the narrative that higher rates may lead to higher inflation, conducting monetary policy in a supply constrained economy, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Joey’s Twitter: @JosephPolitano Joey’s Substack: Apricitas Economics   David Beckworth’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox! Check out our new Macro Musings merch here!   Related Links:   *America’s 2022 Slowdown* by Joey Politano   *The US Labor Market Was Stronger Than We Thought* by Joey Politano