Macro Musings with David Beckworth

For this special end of the year edition of Macro Musings, Heather Long, Ryan Avent, and Cardiff Garcia rejoin the podcast to reflect on the biggest economic surprises and stories of the past few years, while giving their outlook and predictions for the future. Heather Long is an editorial writer and columnist for the Washington Post, Ryan Avent is the trade and international economic editor for the Economist Magazine, and Cardiff Garcia is a veteran journalist for the Financial Times and NPR as well as the host of the New Bazaar podcast and the co-founder of Bazaar Audio. Specifically, this returning panel of guests discuss the major economic themes throughout the pandemic, the most overrated and underreported stories that have dominated the headlines over the past few years, what issues are primed for prominence within the next decade, and a lot more.     Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Support the podcast by making a donation during this holiday season!   Heather’s Washington Post profile Heather’s Twitter: @byHeatherLong   Ryan’s Economist profile Ryan’s Twitter: @ryanavent   Cardiff’s Twitter: @CardiffGarcia Bazaar Audio’s website   David’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:   *Measuring Monetary Policy: the NGDP Gap* by David Beckworth   *Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China* by Hal Brands and Michael Beckley   *David Beckworth on the Facts, Fears, and Functionality of NGDP Level Targeting* by the Macro Musings Podcast   *Ryan Avent, Cardiff Garcia, and Heather Long on Lessons from the Great Recession* by the Macro Musings Podcast

Tomas Hirst is a macro analyst in the Strategy and Allocation division at LMI and formerly worked at Credit Sights, an independent fixed income research company, where he led the European strategy team covering Euro and sterling credit markets. Prior to that, he also worked at Bloomberg and the World Economic Forum in Geneva. Tomas joins David on Macro Musings to talk about the Eurozone economy, the ECB, and the future of the Euro project. Specifically, David and Tomas discuss the macroeconomic state of post-pandemic Europe, the rationale behind the ECB’s rate hikes, the inflation expectations conundrum within the Eurozone, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Support the podcast by making a donation during this holiday season!   Tomas’s blog Tomas’s Twitter: @tomashirstecon   David’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 ECB’s New Inflation Target One Year On* by Ursel Baumann, Christophe Kamps, and Manfred Kremer

Joe Gagnon is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and was formerly a senior staffer at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Joe is also a returning guest to the podcast, and he rejoins Macro Musings to take a look back on the past few years and to discuss his new paper on excess unemployment over the past 25 years. Specifically, David and Joe also discuss the movement of the natural rate of unemployment over time, alternative explanations for the flattening of the Phillips curve, policy implications for the Fed moving forward, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Support the podcast by making a donation during this holiday season!   Joe’s PIIE profile Joe’s Twitter: @GagnonMacro   David’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:   *25 Years of Excess Unemployment in Advanced Economies: Lessons for Monetary Policy* by Joseph Gagnon and Madi Sarsenbayev   *Economists are Slightly Better at Predicting Inflation Than Consumers* by Joseph Gagnon and Madi Sarsenbayev   *Who are the Better Forecasters of Inflation, Bond Traders or Economists?* by Joseph Gagnon and Madi Sarsenbayev   *The Slope of the Phillips Curve: Evidence form U.S. States* by Jonathon Hazell, Juan Herreno, Emi Nakamura, and Jon Steinsson   *The Macroeconomics of Low Inflation* by George Akerlof, William Dickens, and George Perry   *Measuring Monetary Policy: the NGDP Gap* by David Beckworth

Noah Smith is a former columnist for Bloomberg and is now a popular writer at his own Noahpinion Substack. In this bonus segment from the previous conversation, Noah rejoins the podcast to talk about the nuts and bolts of macroeconomic modeling. Specifically, David and Noah discuss why macroeconomics is still in its infancy, how we can improve macro modeling moving forward, how to spot “nutty” macroeconomic theories, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Noah’s Substack: Noahpinion Noah’s Bloomberg archive Noah’s Twitter: @Noahpinion    David’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:   *Macroeconomics is Still in Its Infancy* by Noah Smith   *Nutty Macroeconomic Theories Will Ruin Your Country’s Economy* by Noah Smith

Noah Smith is a former columnist for Bloomberg and is now a popular writer at his own Noahpinion Substack. Noah is also a returning guest to the podcast, and rejoins Macro Musings for a wide ranging discussion on some of the recent issues he’s been covering on his Substack, including China, social change in the US, recent macro developments, and much more. Noah and David also discuss the façade of Xi Jinping’s leadership, the elite overproduction hypothesis, how Fukuyama’s *End of History* thesis can be applied today, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Noah’s Substack: Noahpinion Noah’s Bloomberg archive Noah’s Twitter: @Noahpinion   David’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, and use the promo code NGDP for 10% off!   Related Links:   *The Elite Overproduction Hypothesis* by Noah Smith   *Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China* by Hal Brands and Michael Beckley   *Book Review: “Danger Zone”* by Noah Smith   *Is China Heading Toward Another Tiananmen Square Moment?* by Lili Pike and Tom Nagorski

Hugh Rockoff is a professor of economics at Rutgers University and has done extensive work in U.S. monetary history. He joins the show to discuss the criteria for an ideal monetary union and argues that the U.S. didn’t really become an optimal currency area until the 1930s. David and Hugh then discuss whether a present-day example, the Eurozone, fits these criteria. They also talk about interesting chapters in U.S. monetary history, including the Civil War, the Free Banking Era, and the bimetallism debate of the late 1800s.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Check out our new Macro Musings merch here, and use the promo code NGDP for 10% off!   Hugh’s Rutgers profile   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:    *History of the American Economy* by Hugh Rockoff and Gary Walton   *How Long Did It Take the United States to Become an Optimal Currency Area?* by Hugh Rockoff   *"The Wizard of Oz" as a Monetary Allegory* by Hugh Rockoff   *The Free Banking Era: A Re-Examination* by Hugh Rockoff

In this special episode of Macro Musings, David Beckworth and Patrick Horan join guest host Carola Binder to discuss their newest paper, *The Fate of FAIT: Salvaging the Fed’s Framework.* Patrick Horan is a research fellow in the Mercatus Center’s Monetary Policy Program and Carola Binder is an associate professor of economics at Haverford College as well as a visiting scholar at the Mercatus Center. In addition to their paper, Pat and David also talk about the basics of flexible average inflation targeting, how it compares to temporary price level targeting, the differences between the Fed’s old and new frameworks, and a lot more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Check out our new Macro Musings merch here, and use the promo code NGDP for 10% off!   Patrick’s Twitter: @Pat_Horan92 Patrick’s Mercatus profile   Carola’s Twitter: @cconces Carola’s Haverford site Carola’s Mercatus profile   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *The Fate of FAIT: Salvaging the Fed’s Framework* by David Beckworth and Patrick Horan   *2020 Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy* by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors   *Fed Framework Holds Central Bank Hostage* by Mohamed El-Erian   *Nominal GDP Targeting and the Taylor Rule on an Even Playing Field* by David Beckworth and Josh Hendrickson

Ethan Ilzetzki is an associate professor of economics at the London School of Economics and a research fellow with the Center for Economic Policy Research. Ethan is also a returning guest to the show, and he rejoins David on Macro Musings to talk about the international implications of Fed Policy and the strong dollars as well as Ethan’s thoughts on business cycle theory in light of the recent inflation surge. David and Ethan also discuss Ethan’s takeaways from the UK crisis, how to evaluate and contextualize monetary policy shocks, the contemporary applications of the fiscal theory of the price level, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Check out our new Macro Musings merch here, and use the promo code NGDP for 10% off!   Ethan’s Twitter: @ilzetzki Ethan’s website Ethan’s LSE profile   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *UK Financial Crisis of 2022: Retrospective Diagnosis and Policy Recommendations* by Ethan Ilzetzki   *Exchange Arrangements Entering the Twenty-First Century: Which Anchor Will Hold?* by Ethan Ilzetzki, Carmen Reinhart, and Kenneth Rogoff   *Inflation as a Fiscal Limit* by Francesco Bianchi and Leonardo Melosi   *The Global Financial Cycle* by Helene Rey and Silvia Miranda-Agrippino

Megan Greene is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University and is the global chief economist at Kroll. Megan is also a contributing editor and columnist for the Financial Times and is a returning guest to the podcast. She rejoins David on Macro Musings to talk about a recent article she has written titled, *UK Market Turmoil is a Harbinger of Global Events to Come.* David and Megan also discuss the basics of what caused the UK’s recent crisis, how persistent inflation continues to impact the global economy, the current outlook for international energy production, and a lot more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Megan’s website Megan’s Kroll profile Megan’s Twitter: @economistmeg   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *UK Market Turmoil is a Harbinger of Global Events to Come* by Megan Greene   *The World is Starting to Hate the Fed* by Edward Luce

Yesha Yadav is a law professor and associate dean of Vanderbilt Law School. Yesha works on banking and financial regulation, securities regulation, the law of money and payment system, and is a returning guest to the podcast. She rejoins Macro Musings to talk about recent developments in the Treasury market and the prospects for reform. David and Yesha also discuss the future of CBDC in the US, the recent economic crisis in the UK, and a lot more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Yesha’s Vanderbilt Law profile: https://law.vanderbilt.edu/bio/yesha-yadav Yesha’s Google Scholar archive: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Dn5cmSQAAAAJ&hl=en   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!   Related Links:   *The Failed Promise of Treasuries in Financial Regulation* by Yesha Yadav and Pradeep Yadav   *The Broken Bond Market* by Yesha Yadav and Jonathan Brogaard   *Markets Didn’t Oust Truss. The Bank of England Did.* by Narayana Kocherlakota   *Treasuries Liquidity Problem Exposes Fed to ‘Biggest Nightmare’* by Liz McCormick   *Yellen Flags Potential for Buybacks of Treasury Securities* by Christopher Condon   *The Squeeze That Has the US Treasury Thinking About Buying Back Bonds* by Alexandra Harris   *Hedge Funds Facing Tighter SEC Clearing Rules for Treasuries* by Lydia Beyoud and Alexandra Harris   *Geithner-Led Group Faults Fed for Slow Work on Treasuries Market* by Liz McCormick   *All-to-All Trading in the U.S. Treasury Market* by the New York Fed staff   *Toby Nangle on What We Just Learned From Gilt Market Madness* by Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal