Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Peter Ganong is an associate professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He joins David on Macro Musings to talk about his work on the dynamism and resiliency of the US economy. Peter and David also discuss the income convergence story in the US, how to address increased housing costs, the economic effects of pandemic response measures, and a lot more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Peter’s Twitter: @p_ganong Peter’s UChicago 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:   *Why Has Regional Income Convergence in the U.S. Declined?* by Peter Ganong and Daniel Shoag   *Why Do Borrowers Default on Mortgages? A New Method for Causal Attribution* by Peter Ganong and Pascal Noel   *Liquidity Versus Wealth in Household Debt Obligations: Evidence from Housing Policy in the Great Recession* by Peter Ganong and Pascal Noel   *Spending and Job Search Impacts of Expanded Unemployment Benefits: Evidence from Administrative Micro Data* by Peter Ganong, Fiona Greig, Pascal Noel, Daniel Sullivan, and Joseph Vavra   *Housing Demand and Remote Work* by John Mondragon and Johannes Wieland   *Household Income & Spending* Research by the JPMorgan Chase Institute

Bill Nelson is the chief economist and executive vice president at the Bank Policy Institute. He previously worked as 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. Bill has also worked closely with the BIS working groups on the design of liquidity regulations and is a returning guest of the podcast. He rejoins David on Macro Musings to talk about his new note that is titled, *Bank Examiner Preferences are Obstructing Monetary Policy*. David and Bill also discuss how the Fed’s forward guidance is affecting recent market turmoil, how to change the mindset of bank examiners and the public, why the Fed should look into establishing a committed liquidity facility, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Bill’s BPI profile BPI’s Twitter: @bankpolicy   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:   *Bank Examiner Preferences are Obstructing Monetary Policy* by Bill Nelson   *Quantifying the Costs and Benefits of Quantitative Easing* by Andrew Levin, Brian Lu, and Bill Nelson   FRED Graph: *Liabilities and Capital: Liabilities: Earnings Remittances Due to the U.S. Treasury: Wednesday Level*   *The Global Financial Cycle* by Silvia Miranda-Agrippino and Helene Rey

George Selgin is a senior fellow and director emeritus of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute and is also a long-time returning guest of Macro Musings. In this bonus segment from the previous conversation, George rejoins the podcast to talk about his new book project on the Great Depression titled, False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery. Specifically, David and George discuss the broad contours of the Great Depression, including its causes as well as the pros and cons of the New Deal solutions that followed.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   George’s Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin George’s Cato 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:   Macro Musings: *Jason Taylor on the Great Depression, World War II, and “The Big Push”*   Macro Musings: *Doug Irwin on the History of US Trade Policy*   Macro Musings: *Sebastian Edwards on FDR, Gold, and the Great Depression*   *American Default: The Untold Story of FDR, the Supreme Court, and the Battle over Gold* by Sebastian Edwards

George Selgin is a senior fellow and director emeritus of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute. George is also a frequent guest of the podcast, and he rejoins David on Macro Musings once again to discuss their top three articles from the past few weeks related to macroeconomics and monetary policy. Specifically, David and George talk about Jerome Powell’s recent criticism of nominal GDP targeting, Lael Brainard’s recent comments regarding FedNow and real-time payments, the debate surrounding the Fed’s campaign against inflation, and a lot more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   George’s Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin George’s Cato 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:   *A Conversation Between Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Peter Goettler* via the Cato Institute   *The Return of Inflation Makes Deficits More Dangerous* by Greg Ip   *Jerome Powell’s Dilemma: What if the Drivers of Inflation Are Here to Stay?* by Nick Timiraos   *Primer: What is a Real-time Payments System, and Who Should Operate it?* by Thomas Wade   *Facts, Fears, and Functionality of NGDP Level Targeting* by David Beckworth   *Anchors Aweigh: The Transition from Commodity Money to Fiat Money in Western Economies* by Angela Redish

Bill English is a professor at Yale University, a former senior Fed staffer, and a veteran of the Bank for International Settlements. Bill joins Macro Musings to talk about his time at the Federal Reserve, recent Fed developments, and a paper he co-authored titled, “What If the Federal Reserve Books Losses Because of Its Quantitative Easing?” David and Bill also discuss the Fed’s recent low-inflation mandate, the QE effectiveness debate, and why we should and shouldn’t be concerned about Fed balance sheet losses.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Bill’s Yale profile Bill’s Federal Reserve 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:   *What if the Federal Reserve Books Losses Because of its Quantitative Easing?* by William English and Donald Kohn   Macro Musings: *Donald Kohn on Fed Policy from the 1970s to Today*   *Think of Powell as Volcker’s Wannabe Second Coming* by John Authers

Andrew Levin is a professor of economics at Dartmouth College and a former long-time Fed official. Andy is also a previous guest of Macro Musings and rejoins the podcast to talk about the costs and benefits of the Fed’s QE4 program. David and Andy also discuss the Fed’s recent record on inflation, QE4’s impact on market functioning, the present and future of the Fed’s balance sheet, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Andrew’s Dartmouth profile Andrew’s NBER archive   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: *Quantifying the Costs and Benefits of Quantitative Easing* by Andrew Levin, Brian Lu, and William Nelson   *Incorporating Scenario Analysis into the Federal Reserve’s Policy Strategy and Communications* by Michael Bordo, Andrew Levin, and Mickey Levy   *What if the Federal Reserve Books Losses Because of its Quantitative Easing?* by William English and Donald Kohn

Steven Kelly is a senior research associate at the Yale Program on Financial Stability. Steven joins David on Macro Musings to discuss his work on financial stability and the role the Federal Reserve plays in it. Specifically, David and Steven discuss the Fed’s evolving role in niche financial markets such as commodities and derivatives markets, what Section 13.3 of the Federal Reserve Act says about the Fed’s basis to engage in financial markets, proposals to improve the Fed’s Standing Repo Facility (SRF), the future of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in financial markets, and much more. Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Steven’s Twitter: @StevenKelly49 Steven’s Substack: Without Warning   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 Reserve (podcast) hosted by Kaleb Nygaard   New Bagehot Project, Yale Program on Financial Stability (YPFS)   “The Fed As Derivatives Dealer of Last Resort?” by Steven Kelly   “Could the Fed Rescue Commodities Markets?” by Steven Kelly   “Improving the Standing Repo Facility” by Steven Kelly   “Unappropriated Dollars: The Fed's Ad Hoc Lending Facilities and the Rules that Govern Them” by Lev Menand   The Fed Unbound: Central Banking in a Time of Crisis by Lev Menand   “Larry Ball on the Lehman Brothers Collapse and Its Role in the Great Recession”, Macro Musings podcast episode (2018)

Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center. Scott joins David on Macro Musings to look back on his contributions to monetary policy research with the Mercatus Center and elsewhere, as well as discuss his upcoming book, Alternative Approaches to Monetary Policy. In particular, Scott and David discuss how the Fed’s monetary policy mistakes in 2008 impacted the direction of Scott’s research, the theory and prospects for a nominal GDP futures contract, the future of monetary policy in the Eurozone and whether the ECB has gotten more hawkish, how changing macroeconomic conditions across history help explain the changing popularity of particular policy models, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Scott’s Twitter: @ScottSumnerTMI Scott’s blog Scott’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:   “Nominal GDP futures targeting” by Scott Sumner   “A Market-Driven Nominal GDP Targeting Regime” by Scott Sumner   “Using Futures Instrument Prices To Target Nominal Income” by Scott Sumner   “The Impact of Futures Price Targeting on the Precision and Credibility of Monetary Policy” by Scott Sumner

Hanno Lustig is a professor of finance at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Hanno is also a former guest on Macro Musings and rejoins the podcast to talk about fiscal dominance, global inflation, interest rates, wealth and equality, and Eurozone challenges. David and Hanno also discuss how to reconcile Treasury yield movements with impending fiscal dominance, why we’re seeing a long-term decline in real interest rates, the early trends in post-pandemic inflation, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   Hanno’s Twitter: @HannoLustig Hanno’s Stanford 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:   *What Drives Variation in the U.S. Debt/Output Ratio? The Dogs that Didn’t Bark* by Hanno Lustig, Zhengyang Jiang, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, and Mindy Xiaolan   *US Government Debt Valuation Puzzle* by Hanno Lustig, Zhengyang Jiang, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, and Mindy Xiaolan   *Monetary Science, Fiscal Alchemy* by Eric Leeper

Josh Younger is currently a managing director and global head of ALM research and strategy at JP Morgan, and previously spent over a decade as a senior market strategist focused on interest rate and money markets. Josh joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the current state of the Treasury market and various reforms that have recently been proposed for it. Specifically, Josh and David discuss the history and evolving structure of the Treasury market, the emergence of high frequency trading firms over the past decade, the factors behind the 2020 dash for cash, current stresses on the Treasury market, as well as potential reforms for the market going forward.   Transcript for the episode can be found here.   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings Click here for the latest Macro Musings episodes sent straight to your inbox!