Macro Musings with David Beckworth

George Selgin is the Director of the Cato Institute Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives and a returning guest to Macro Musings. He joins David to break down recent policy actions by the Federal Reserve and some of the resulting challenges, as they break down the Treasury’s recent $454 billion backstop on Federal Reserve lending, the complex array of new Fed lending facilities in response to COVID-19, and the Fed’s evolving role in the global economy.   The transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   George’s Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin George’s Cato profile: https://www.cato.org/people/george-selgin   Related Links:   Bonus segment with George: https://youtu.be/Q73pWOeldf4   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Mehrsa Baradaran is a professor of law at the University of California Irvine and researches banking law, financial inclusion, inequality, and the racial wealth gap. Her scholarship includes the books, *How the Other Half Banks* and *The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap.* Mehrsa joins Macro Musings to talk about the impact of COVID-19 and how existing wealth conditions and financial access challenges are exacerbating the crisis. David and Mehrsa also discuss the historical context for the racial wealth gap, why banking deserts are so consequential, and how a postal savings system may be a solution to the financial inclusion problem.   Transcripts for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Mehrsa’s Twitter: @MehrsaBaradaran Mehrsa’s UCI profile: https://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/baradaran/   Related Links:   Link to bonus segment with Mehrsa: https://youtu.be/AcH3c89ZtKY   *How the Other Half Banks: Exclusion, Exploitation, and the Threa

Nicholas Bloom is a professor of economics at Stanford University and a leading scholar on management, productivity, innovation and economic uncertainty. Nick is a previous guest of Macro Musings and returns to share his thoughts on COVID-19 and what it means for the US economy, both in the short-run and in the long-run. David and Nick also discuss the impact of the virus on the future of urban living, on the economics profession as a whole, and who will bear the biggest brunt of these impacts.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Nick’s NBER archive: https://www.nber.org/people/nick_bloom Nick’s Stanford profile: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/nicholas-bloom   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Nick: https://youtu.be/q2M0TLwV_Xw   *COVID-Induced Economic Uncertainty* by Scott R. Baker, Nicholas Bloom, Steven J. Davis, and Stephen J. Terry. https://www.nber.org/papers/w26983   *U.S. Economic Activity During the Early

Brad Setser is a senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he works on macroeconomics, global capital flows, and financial crisis issues. Brad has previously served as the deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Treasury, working on Europe’s financial crisis, currency policy, financial sanctions, commodity shocks, and Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, and was the director for international economics on the staff of the National Economic Council and the National Security Council. As a returning guest to the show, Brad joins Macro Musings once again to discuss dollars swap lines and other solutions to the global dollar shortage, the recent implications of COVID-19 on global trade imbalances, and how China should respond to the effects of this crisis.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Brad’s Twitter: @Brad_Setser Brad’s CFR profile: https://www.cfr.org/expert/brad-w-setser   Related Links:   Bonus segment with

Alex Tabarrok is a professor of economics at George Mason University and a research fellow at the Mercatus Center. Alex joins David Beckworth on the podcast to discuss how best to deal with COVID-19 and what lessons we can learn from it moving forward.     Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Alex’s Twitter: @ATabarrok Alex’s GMU profile: https://mason.gmu.edu/~atabarro/   Related Links:   Bonus segment with Tabarrok: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQUnnumgXvw&feature=youtu.be   *Pandemic Policy in Developing Countries: Recommendations for India* by Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok https://www.mercatus.org/publications/covid-19-policy-brief-series/pandemic-policy-developing-countries-recommendations-india   Chad Brown’s PIIE archive, which include a series of articles related to COVID-19 and its impact on trade: https://www.piie.com/experts/senior-research-staff/chad-p-bown   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter:

Ashoka Mody is a professor of international economic policy at Princeton University, has formerly worked at the IMF and the World Bank, and is a returning guest to Macro Musings. In this episode, he joins David to discuss the global economic implications of COVID-19 and what it specifically means for Europe and the Eurozone.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Ashoka’s Twitter: @AshokaMody Ashoka’s Princeton profile: https://scholar.princeton.edu/amody/home   Related Links:   Cover of Ashoka's new paperback book: https://i.imgur.com/1IYWBAk.jpg   Bonus segment with Ashoka Mody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZsAetHdzjA&feature=youtu.be   *Charting the Crisis* by Ashoka Mody http://econbrowser.com/archives/2020/03/guest-contribution-charting-this-crisis   *Euro Tragedy: A Drama in Nine Acts* by Ashoka Mody https://global.oup.com/academic/product/eurotragedy-9780199351381?cc=us&lang=en&   *Credit Booms Gone Bust: Monetary Policy, Leverage Cycles,

Peter Conti-Brown – a legal scholar and financial historian at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a Nonresident Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution – returns to Macro Musings to discuss the new Fed-Treasury relationship that is emerging in the wake of the war against COVID-19. Peter and David breakdown the CARES Act, the aggressive and extensive policies recently taken by the Fed, and the implications for monetary policy moving forward.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Peter’s Twitter: @PeterContiBrown Peter’s Brookings profile: https://www.brookings.edu/author/peter-conti-brown/ Peter’s Wharton profile: https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/petercb/   Related Links:   *Explaining the New Fed-Treasury Emergency Fund* by Peter Conti-Brown https://www.brookings.edu/research/explaining-the-new-fed-treasury-emergency-fund/   *What’s the Fed Doing in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis? What More Could it Do?* by Jeffrey

Skanda Amarnath is the Director of Research and Analysis at Employ America, Yakov Feygin is the Associate Director of the Future of Capitalism program at the Berggruen Institute, and Elizabeth Pancotti is a research assistant at the National Bureau of Economic Research and at Tufts University. Together, they have put together proposals on how to better address the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis at the state and local level. They join Macro Musings today to discuss these proposals, a municipal bond market and expanded unemployment insurance, as well as what it all means for making the US economy more of an optimal currency area. Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Skanda’s Twitter: @IrvingSwisher Skanda’s Medium profile: https://medium.com/@skanda_97974   Yakov’s Twitter: @BuddyYakov Yakov’s Berggruen Institute profile: https://www.berggruen.org/people/yakov-feygin/   Elizabeth’s Twitter: @ENPancotti Elizabeth’s website: https://sites.google

Jim Bianco, of Bianco Research, joins Macro Musings to discuss the latest on the economic impact from the coronavirus. David and Jim discuss the details and implications of the $2 Trillion Relief bill, the possibility of higher inflation, renewed threats to Fed independence, and implications for the Eurozone.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Jim’s Twitter: @biancoresearch Jim’s Bloomberg archive: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/authors/ABvwE0aTOvg/jim-bianco   Related Links: *The Fed's Cure Risks Being Worse Than the Disease* by Jim Bianco https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-27/federal-reserve-s-financial-cure-risks-being-worse-than-disease   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Robin Brooks is a chief economist at the Institute of International Finance and has previously worked for Goldman Sachs and the IMF. Robin joins Macro Musings to talk about the global economic implications of the novel coronavirus. David and Robin also discuss what is happening to output gap measures, where the global dollar cycle stands today, and the importance of dollar swap lines for emerging markets.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Robin’s Twitter: @RobinBrooksIIF Robin’s IIF profile: https://www.iif.com/About-Us/Our-Leadership   Related Links:   *Federal Reserve Announces Extensive New Measures to Support the Economy* https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20200323b.htm   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Stan Veuger is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute where he specializes in political economy and public finance. Stan joins us today to discuss his co-authored proposal to save American businesses and American jobs as well as his thoughts on how Europe is handling the crisis. Specifically, David and Stan discuss the Federal Reserve’s ability to support targeted business loans, how the crisis has been panning out in Europe, and the timeline to global recovery.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Stan’s Twitter: @stanveuger Stan’s AEI profile: https://www.aei.org/profile/stan-veuger/   Related Links:   *How to Help American Businesses Endure and Jobs Survive* by Stan Veuger and Steven Hamilton https://www.aei.org/economics/how-to-help-american-businesses-endure-and-jobs-survive/   *Throwing a COVID-19 Liquidity Life-Line* by Markus Brunnermeier, Jean-Pierre Landau, Marco Pagano, and Ricardo Reis https://scholar.princeton.ed

Claudia Sahm is the Director of Macroeconomic Policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and formerly was a section chief at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Claudia specializes in macroeconomics and household finance, and joins the show today to talk about what the Fed has recently done and what fiscal policy can do in response to the economic meltdown caused by COVID-19. Specifically, David and Claudia discuss sending out direct payments to individuals, what the Fed’s remaining toolkit may look like, and how the freshly minted Sahm Rule may be of paramount importance as this crisis continues to develop.    Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Claudia’s Twitter: @Claudia_Sahm Claudia’s Equitable Growth profile: https://equitablegrowth.org/people/claudia-sahm/   Related Links:   *The Case for a Big Coronavirus Stimulus* by Jason Furman  https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-case-for-a-big-coronavirus-stimulus-11583448500?

James Sweeney is the chief economist at Credit Suisse and joins us today as a part of our ongoing special coverage to talk about the coronavirus or COVID-19 and its implications for the economy. Specifically, David and James discuss what this pandemic means for the plumbing of the financial system, interest rates, and the type of recession we might experience.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   James’s Credit Suisse profile: https://www.credit-suisse.com/microsites/conferences/aic/en/speakers/cs-experts/james-sweeney.html   Related Links:   *Global Money Notes #27: Covid-19 and Global Dollar Funding* by Zoltan Pozsar and James Sweeney https://plus.credit-suisse.com/rpc4/ravDocView?docid=V7k0P32AC-WEqAJ7   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Megan Greene is a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School and a senior fellow in international economics at Chatham House. Formerly, Megan was a chief economist on Wall Street and she currently has a bi-weekly column in the Financial Times on global macroeconomics. She joins the show today to talk about the coronavirus and the appropriate policy response to it as well as the future countercyclical macro policy in the United States. David and Megan also discuss the Fed’s future framework, arguments against the recent 50 basis point rate cut, and why the Fed should consider following the ECB’s lead on TLTROs as well as negative interest rates.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Megan’s Twitter: @economistmeg Megan’s website: https://economistmeg.com/about/   Related Links:   *Coronavirus May Be Worse Than Wall Street Is Wagering* by Megan Greene https://www.ft.com/content/44c9391c-5489-11ea-a1ef-da1721a0541e   David’s blog: macromark

Ben Moll is a professor of economics at the London School of Economics, and is well known for his work on income and wealth distribution in macroeconomics and its implications for policy. Ben joins the show today to talk about this work and provide a look into the growing field of heterogeneous agent models. David and Ben also discuss the history of macro thought, the implications of different transmission mechanisms of monetary policy, and what HANK models mean for forward guidance and other more general makeup policies.   The transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Ben’s Twitter: @ben_moll Ben’s LSE website: https://benjaminmoll.com/   Related Links:   *Monetary Policy According to HANK* by Greg Kaplan, Ben Moll, and Giovanni Violante https://www.princeton.edu/~moll/HANK.pdf   *Household Balance Sheet Channels of Monetary Policy: A Back of the Envelope Calculation for the Euro Area* by Jiri Slacalek, Oreste Tristani, and Giovanni Violante https://c

Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a returning guest to Macro Musings. Scott joins the show today to talk about the recent market turmoil caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus and its implications for monetary policy.  David and Scott also discuss how the Fed should respond to a possible pandemic, why monetary policy is preferable to fiscal policy during a crisis, and how to approach the central bank credibility problem.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Scott’s blog: https://www.themoneyillusion.com/ Scott’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/scott-sumner   Related Links:   *It’s Time for the Fed to Take On the Coronavirus Threat* by David Beckworth https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/its-time-for-the-fed-to-take-on-the-coronavirus-threat/   *The Era of Fed Power is Over. Prepare for a More Perilous Road Ahead.* by Greg Ip https://www.wsj.co

Paul Schmelzing is an economic historian, a visiting scholar at the Bank of England and a postdoc at the Yale University School of Management. Paul has written an influential new paper on the long history of interest rates titled, "Eight centuries of global real interest rates, R-G, and the ‘suprasecular’ decline, 1311–2018." Specifically, Paul and David discuss the implications of this paper’s findings for secular stagnation theory, Thomas Piketty’s inegalitarian wealth spiral, and for macroeconomic policy more generally.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Paul’s Twitter: @paul_schmelzing Paul’s Harvard profile: https://scholar.harvard.edu/pfschmelzing/bio   Related Links:   * Eight Centuries of Global Real Interest Rates, R-G, and the ‘Suprasecular’ Decline, 1311–2018* by Paul Schmelzing https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/working-paper/2020/eight-centuries-of-global-real-interest-rates-r-g-and-the-suprasecular-decline-1311-2018   David’s blog

Ernie Tedeschi is a policy economist and the head of fiscal analysis at Evercore ISI, a macro advisory firm. He is also an occasional contributor to The Upshot section at The New York Times. Previously, Ernie was a senior advisor and an economist at the US Department of Treasury. His research interests include the federal budget, monetary policy, and labor markets. Ernie joins the show to talk about output gaps, full employment, labor markets, and the state of the economy. Specifically, Ernie and David discuss Ernie’s recent articles titled *Participation in the Hot Labor Market* and *Pay is Rising Fastest for Low Earners, One Reason? Minimum Wages.*   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/monetary-policy   Ernie’s Twitter: @ernietedeschi Ernie’s blog: https://medium.com/bonothesauro   Related Links:   *Participation and the Hot Labor Market* by Ernie Tedeschi https://medium.com/@employamerica/participation-and-the-hot-labor-market-a84ef77a3bb1   *Pay is Rising

Brent Skorup is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center where he specializes in transportation technology, telecommunications, aviation, and wireless policy. Brent also serves on the FCC’s broadband deployment advisory committee and the Texas Department of Transportation’s autonomous vehicle task force, and he has recent spoke on the topic of airspace design at the Global Air Traffic Management Conference in Dubai. He joins the show today to talk about the future of transportation, including flying cars and highways in the sky. Brent and David also discuss the concept of auctioning airspace, the macroeconomic implications of technological innovation, and how to build or improve infrastructure for autonomous vehicles in the future.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/02102020/brent-skorup-autonomous-vehicles-flying-cars-and-airspace-scarce-resource   Brent’s Twitter: @bskorup Brent’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/brent-skorup   Related Links:  

Marc Lavoie is a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa and an author a recent article on the Bank of Canada’s operating system. Marc is also the coauthor of a popular textbook titled, *Monetary Economics: An integrated Approach to Credit, Money, Income, Production, and Wealth.* He joins the show today to talk about these works and more. David and Marc also discuss differences between post-Keynesian and mainstream macroeconomics, the history and defining characteristics of Canada’s corridor operating system, and what ideal central bank policy might look like for Canada in the future.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/02032020/marc-lavoie-canadian-central-bank-policy-real-time-payments-and-post   Marc’s University of Ottawa profile: https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/942/profile Marc’s Institute for New Economic Thinking archive: https://www.ineteconomics.org/research/experts/mlavoie   Related Links:   *A System with Zero Reserves and with Clearing Outside of