Macro Musings

Judge Glock is an economic historian, a scholar at the Cicero Institute, and a returning guest to the podcast. Judge rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the origins of the US mortgage market as detailed in his new book, *The Dead Pledge: The Origins of the Mortgage Market and Federal Bailouts, 1913-1939*. David and Judge also discuss the emergence and evolution of the national US mortgage market, the price parity movement, the history of federal land banks, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Judge’s Twitter: @judgeglock Judge’s blog: https://judgeglock.medium.com/    Related Links:   *The Dead Pledge: The Origins of the Mortgage Market and Federal Bailouts, 1913-1939* by Judge Glock https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-dead-pledge/9780231192538   *The “Riefler-Keynes” Doctrine and Federal Reserve Policy in the Great Depression* by Judge Glock https://read.dukeupress.edu/hope/article-abstract/51/2/297/137129/The-Riefler-Keynes-Doctrine-a

Christina Parajon Skinner is a legal scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, and formerly was a legal counsel to the Bank of England. Christina joins David on Macro Musings to discuss her work on central bank activism. Specifically, David and Christina discuss comparisons between the Fed and the Bank of England, tensions between central bank independence and executive override, contemporary examples of central bank activism, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Christina’s Twitter: @CParaSkinner Christina’s Wharton profile: https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/skinnerc/   Related Links:   *Executive Override of Central Banks: A Comparison of the Legal Frameworks in the United States and the United Kingdom* by Michael Salib & Christina Parajon Skinner https://www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-law-journal/in-print/volume-108-issue-4-april-2020/executive-override-of-central-banks-a-comparison-of-the-legal-frameworks-in-the-u

Robert McCauley is a Senior Fellow at the Global Policy Center at Boston University and a Senior Research Associate of the Global History of Capitalism project at the Oxford Center for Global History. Robert also worked at the Bank for International Settlements for 25 years and the New York Federal Reserve Bank for 14 years, and he joins Macro Musings to discuss questions surrounding the global domain of the dollar. Specifically, Robert and David talk about how the US currency rose to prominence internationally in the 1950s, the size and influence of the global dollar zone, dilemmas imposed by dollar demand worldwide, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Robert’s Boston University profile: https://www.bu.edu/gdp/profile/robert-mccauley/ Robert’s BIS archive: https://www.bis.org/author/robert_n_mccauley.htm   Related Links:   *The Global Domain of the Dollar: Eight Questions* by Robert McCauley https://www.bu.edu/gdp/files/2021/02/McCau

Antonio Fatás is a professor of economics at INSEAD, an international business school with campuses in Singapore, France, and Abu Dhabi. Antonio joins David on Macro Musings to talk about hysteresis and the business cycle. Specifically, David and Antonio discuss the history of the academic literature on business cycle and trend, the impact of the Kydland and Prescott model, and how endogenous growth models play into hysteresis.   Support Macro Musings and get a free NGDP targeting mug: https://donate.mercatus.org/mug/?utm_source=shownotes&utm_medium=hyperlink&utm_campaign=mug   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Antonio’s INSEAD profile: https://faculty.insead.edu/fatas/ Antonio’s Twitter: @AntonioFatas   Related Links:   *Hysteresis and the Business Cycle* by Valerie Cerra, Antonio Fatás, and Sweta Saxena https://faculty.insead.edu/fatas/hysteresis.pdf   *Time to build and aggregate fluctuations* by F.E. Kydland and E.C. Prescott https:

Matteo Maggiori is an associate professor of economics at Stanford University and joins David on Macro Musings to talk about global capital flows, reserve currencies, and the international monetary system. Specifically, David and Matteo also discuss the details of the Global Capital Allocation Project, the US and its status as banker to the world, the possibility we could see a major run on the dollar in the near future, and more.   Support Macro Musings and get a free mug: https://donate.mercatus.org/mug/?utm_source=shownotes&utm_medium=hyperlink&utm_campaign=mug   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Matteo’s Twitter: @m_maggiori Matteo’s website: https://www.matteomaggiori.com/ Matteo’s Stanford profile: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/matteo-maggiori   Related Links:   The Global Capital Allocation Project: https://www.globalcapitalallocation.com/   *The Rise of the Dollar and Fall of the Euro as International Cu

Scott Skyrm is the Executive Vice President in Fixed Income and Repo at Curvature Securities. Scott joins David on Macro Musings to discuss REPO markets, where they have been and where they are going. Specifically, Scott and David discuss the role of broker-dealers like Curvature Securities in the repo market, how repo markets are tied to treasury markets and government deficit financing, why repo rates have recently entered negative territory, potential reforms to the repo market, and much more.   Support Macro Musings and get a free mug: https://donate.mercatus.org/mug/?utm_source=shownotes&utm_medium=hyperlink&utm_campaign=mug   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Scott’s Twitter: @ScottSkyrm Scott’s Bio: http://curvaturesecurities.com/our-team/#1540493883550-e8ec7543-62d3   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Ed Nelson is a Senior Advisor in the Monetary Affairs Division of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Ed has also previously been a professor and has worked at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, as well as the Bank of England. Returning to the podcast, Ed re-joins Macro Musings to talk about his new book, *Milton Friedman and the Economic Debate in the United States: 1932-1972*. Ed and David specifically discuss the life and work of Milton Friedman, as they explore his journey into monetarism, his contributions to the quantity theory of money, how he envisioned a money supply growth rule, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Ed’s website: https://sites.google.com/site/edwardnelsonresearch/ Ed’s Fed profile: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/edward-nelson.htm   Related Links:   *Milton Friedman and the Economic Debate in the United States, 1932-1972: Volume 1* by Edward Nelson https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books

Dan Awrey is a professor of law at Cornell Law School, a financial markets regulation scholar, and the editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation. Dan joins David on Macro Musings to discuss how to promote greater financial innovation, financial inclusion, and alleviate the “too big to fail” problem by safely unbundling banking, money, and payments in our financial system. Dan and David also go on to discuss tensions in the global shadow banking system, the history of how banks evolved to play such a central role in our financial system, how the law has reinforced this bundling of the banks’ roles, and much more.   Transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Dan’s Twitter: @DanAwrey Dan’s Cornell Law Profile: https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/daniel-awrey   Related Links:   *Unbundling Banking, Payments and Money* by Dan Awrey https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3776739   *Brother, Can You Spare a Dollar? Designing an Effective Framew

Chris Russo is a Monetary Policy Program Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and has previously worked at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. He joins Macro Musings to talk about the work he is doing on tensions between the Fed and the Treasury’s management of their respective balance sheets. Specifically, David and Chris discuss what these tensions are and what fixes can be implemented to ameliorate the existing plumbing issues.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Chris’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/christopher-russo Chris’s Github site: https://christopher-russo.github.io/about/   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Saule Omarova is a professor of law and the director of the Jack Clarke Program on the Law and Regulation of Financial Institutions and Markets at Cornell University. Saule joins Macro Musings to talk about the prospects of an emergency fiscal facility, as well as a broader vision for a National Investment Authority. Specifically, Saule and David discuss the need for a third public finance agency, what the mandate of such an authority would be, and how the agency would be structured and held accountable. Saule also answers common objections to her vision such as the potential institutional redundancies, as well as how to prevent cronyism and excessive politicization.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Saule’s Twitter: @STOmarova Saule’s Cornell profile: https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/faculty/bio_saule_omarova.cfm   Related Links:   *Data For Progress: A National Investment Authority* https://www.dataforprogress.org/a-national-investment-auth

Pat Parkinson is a senior fellow at the Bank Policy Institute and a 30-year veteran of the Federal Reserve system, where he served as director of the Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation. During that time, he was also a member of the Basel Committee on Banking and advised Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and Tim Geithner on financial market issues. Pat joins Macro Musings to discuss the treasury market meltdown in March 2020, as well as what we can do moving forward to avoid this issue from happening again. Specifically, David and Pat outline the implementation of a standing repo facility, changes to the supplemental leverage ratio, expanded central clearing, and increased data collection as possible solutions to this problem.     Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Pat’s BPI profile: https://bpi.com/people/pat-parkinson/   Related Links:   *Enhancing Liquidity of the U.S. Treasury Market Under Stress* by Nellie Liang and Pat Parkinson htt

Kathy Bostjancic is the chief US financial economist at Oxford Economics and joins Macro Musings to discuss the outlook for monetary and fiscal policy in 2021 as well as in financial markets. Specifically, David and Kathy discuss the prospects for Fed policy and personnel under the Biden Administration, immediate concerns facing the Fed as the COVID pandemic continues into 2021, what steps the Fed can take to make their new AIT framework credible, how large scale asset purchases have impacted asset prices and the real economy, and much more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Kathy’s Twitter: @BostjancicKathy Kathy’s Oxford Economics profile: https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/about-us/staff/267824/kathy-bostjancic   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Ricardo Reis is a professor of economics at the London School of Economics and a returning guest to the podcast. Ricardo rejoins Macro Musings to talk about central bank swap lines, the importance of fiscal sustainability, and the outlook for inflation in advanced economies. David and Ricardo also discuss safe asset alternatives, and how to think about inflation, debt, and deficits in a more nuanced way.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Ricardo’s Twitter: @R2Rsquared Ricardo’s LSE profile: https://personal.lse.ac.uk/reisr/   Related Links:   *Central Bank Swap Lines* by Saleem Bahaj and Ricardo Reis https://voxeu.org/article/central-bank-swap-lines   *Central Bank Swap Lines During the Covid-19 Pandemic* by Saleem Bahaj and Ricardo Reis https://personal.lse.ac.uk/reisr/papers/20-covicbswaps.pdf   *The Constraint on Public Debt When r < g but g < m* by Ricardo Reis https://iepecdg.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/mpkrg-201112.pdf   *Inflatin

Robert Kaplan is the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Previously, he was a professor and Associate Dean at Harvard Business School, and prior to that was a Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs. Robert is a returning guest to the podcast, and he rejoins Macro Musings to discuss the Fed's new framework, inflation, interest rates and more. Specifically, David and Robert talk about COVID’s impact on FOMC operations, how demographic trends are impacting productivity, the Fed’s expanding balance sheet, its average inflation targeting framework, and more.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Robert’s Twitter: @RobSKaplan Robert’s Dallas Fed profile: https://www.dallasfed.org/en/fed/bios/kaplan.aspx   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Daniel Griswold is a senior affiliated scholar at the Mercatus Center and a nationally recognized expert on trade and immigration policy. Dan is also a returning guest is to the podcast, and joins Macro Musings to talk about immigration policy and the outlook for trade policy with the new Biden Administration. Specifically, David and Dan discuss the major demographic decline in the US, and how greater levels of immigration and can solve many of America’s economic concerns.    Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Dan’s Twitter: @danielgriswold Dan’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/daniel-griswold   Related Links:   *More Immigration Needed to Offset COVID-19 and America’s Demographic Decline* by Daniel Griswold https://www.mercatus.org/publications/trade-and-immigration/more-immigration-needed-offset-covid-19-and-america%E2%80%99s-demographic   *Half a Million Fewer Children? The Coming COVID Baby Bust* by Melissa Kearney and Ph

Sam Bell is the policy director of Employ America, a think tank dedicated to having the economy run at full employment levels. Sam is also known on FOMC Twitter as an influencer when it comes to nominations for the Board of Governors. Sam returns to Macro Musings to talk about what 2021 likely has in store for the Fed. Specifically, Sam and David discuss Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida’s vision for temporary price level targeting, the prospects of Jay Powell and Lael Brainard (and others) for the next Fed chair, the significance of Janet Yellen’s treasury secretary appointment, and the political pressures facing the Fed in 2021.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Sam’s Twitter: @sam_a_bell About Employ America: https://employamerica.org/about/   Related Links:   *Monetary Policy Strategies for a Low-Rate Environment* by Ben Bernanke, Michael Kiley, and John Roberts https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20191082   David’s blog: macroma

Caleb Watney is the director of innovation policy at the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) and he joins Macro Musings to talk about his recent piece, *Cracks in the Great Stagnation* and the reasons why we should all be techno-optimists. Specifically, David and Caleb discuss greater skilled immigration, further government R&D spending, innovative energy solutions, and more as ways to help repair an economy plagued by secular stagnation.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Caleb’s Twitter: @calebwatney Caleb’s PPI profile: https://www.progressivepolicy.org/people/caleb-watney/   Related Links:   *Cracks in the Great Stagnation* Caleb Watney https://www.agglomerations.tech/cracks-in-the-great-stagnation/   *The Egghead Gap* by Caleb Watney https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-egghead-gap   *Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find?* by Nicholas Bloom, Charles Jones, John Van Reenen, and Michael Webb https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.12

Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center and a returning guest to Macro Musings. He joins the podcast today to talk about his ongoing work on the Princeton School of Macroeconomics as well as his thoughts on monetary policy in 2021. Specifically, David and Scott discuss the economic contributions of various different Princeton economists as well as how the central bank can overcome inflationary fears and establish further institutional credibility.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Scott’s automated Twitter: @MoneyIllusion Scott’s blog: https://www.themoneyillusion.com/ Scott’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/scott-sumner   Related Links:   *It’s Baaack: Japan’s Slump and the Return of the Liquidity Trap* by Paul Krugman, Kathryn Dominguez, and Kenneth Rogoff https://www.brookings.edu/bpea-articles/its-baaack-japans-slump-and-the-return-of-the-liquidity-trap/   *Great Expectation

Josh Galper is the managing principal at Finadium, an independent consultancy in capital markets, and is deep in the trenches of the money markets, as well as the financial regulatory space. As a returning guest to the podcast, Josh rejoins Macro Musings to talk about some of the big changes we might see in financial regulation, especially as it relates to climate issues under the new Biden administration. David and Josh also discuss the prospects of negative interest rates in the US, the influence of the Financial Stability Board, and how to deal with Treasury and repo market stress in the future.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Josh’s Twitter: @Finadium Josh’s Finadium profile: https://finadium.com/josh-galper-mba/   Related Links:   *Fed Joins Central Bankers Backing Paris Climate Goals* by Martin Arnold https://www.ft.com/content/008a12d2-7736-4db0-af9c-e063a0bcdd7a   *Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System* by the Climate Ma

As a tumultuous, virus-stricken 2020 comes to an end, David is joined by Macro Musings producer Marc Dupont to discuss the highlights of the show throughout the past year. Specifically, they talk about the big macroeconomic themes and takeaways from the last 12 months, which guests and topics were most popular among listeners, what 2020 may have in store for monetary policy, and more.   A special thank you to all of the Macro Musings listeners around the globe who continue to tune in to the show week in and week out, especially during these tough and uncertain times. Stay tuned for more exciting content as we turn a new page in 2021.   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth   Marc’s Twitter: @marc_c_dupont   Related Links:   Top 10 Macro Musings Episodes in 2020:   Adam Tooze on Dollar Dominance, the Eurozone, and the Future of Global Finance - https://macromusings.libsyn.com/adam-tooze-on-dollar-dominance-the-eurozone-and-the-future-of-global-finance   Jim Tankersley