Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Macro Musings with David Beckworth
Hosted by David Beckworth of the Mercatus Center, Macro Musings pulls back the curtain on the important macroeconomic issues of the past, present, and future.
Author
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Category
Podcast website
Latest episode
Jul 6, 2026
Where to listen?
Podcasts in the app Replaio Radio Coming soonPodcasts are coming to the app soon. Install now and be the first to see a whole new take on podcasts
Episodes
Colin Grabow on Current Trends in US Trade Policy and the Adverse Impact of the Jones Act 25.04.2022 53:53
Colin Grabow is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about US trade policies, the Jones Act, and the consequences of this harmful maritime statute. Specifically, David and Colin also discuss the counterfactual world of TPP, the future of international trade, and how to fix the myriad of problems caused by the Jones Act. Tran...
Nick Timiraos on Jerome Powell's Tenure as Fed Chair 18.04.2022 53:51
Nick Timiraos is a Chief Economics Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and rejoins Macro Musings to discuss his new book titled, * Trillion Dollar Triage: How Jay Powell and the Fed Battled the President and a Pandemic and Prevented Economic Disaster .* Specifically, David and Nick discuss Jay Powell's background and early career in law and finance, his unique path to being nominated as Fed...
Joey Politano on Recent Inflationary Trends and the Future Outlook for Monetary Policy 11.04.2022 44:16
Joey Politano is an economist and a commentator who writes and publishes on a Substack newsletter named, "Apricitas Economics," where he covers a wide range of subjects on a number of economic topics. Joey joins Macro Musings to talk about inflation, monetary policy, and the issues surround them. Specifically, David and Joey discuss the outlook for services and durable goods inflation, the indicat...
Eric Leeper on the Interactions of Fiscal and Monetary Policy 04.04.2022 51:48
Eric Leeper is a professor of economics at the University of Virginia, an advisor to the Swedish and German central banks and a former Fed economist. Eric has written widely on the links between monetary policy and fiscal policy and joins David on Macro Musings to discuss these links and their implication for the price level. Specifically, Eric and David discuss the relationship between fiscal aut...
Alex Nowrasteh on Population Growth, Immigration, and the Economic Implications for the US 28.03.2022 57:21
Alex Nowrasteh is the director of Economic and Social Policy Studies at the Cato Institute where he writes widely on US immigration policy. He also has several books on the topic, including his recently co-authored book, *Wretched Refuse? The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions.* Alex joins Macro Musings to talk about immigration in the United States and its implications for economic...
Kaleb Nygaard on the Governance of the Federal Reserve System 21.03.2022 55:30
Kaleb Nygaard is a senior research associate at the Yale Program on Financial Stability and runs the website Centralverse, a place where all things central banking are made clear. Kaleb is also a former Chicago Fed staffer. Kaleb joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the governance and institutional details of the Federal Reserve System. Specifically, Kaleb and David get into President Biden's n...
Bill Nelson on the Fed's Operating System, Standing Repo Facility Stigma, and the Future of the Central Bank's Balance Sheet 14.03.2022 56:02
Bill Nelson is a chief economist and an executive vice president at the Bank Policy Institute. Bill 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 the analysis and financial institution supervision. He also worked closely with the BIS working groups...
Matthew Klein on the Economic Fallout from the Russia-Ukraine War 07.03.2022 54:37
Matthew Klein is the author of The Overshoot , a newsletter that helps readers make sense of the global economy. Matthew also closely follows Eastern Europe and Russia, has written on the economics of the Russian-Ukraine War, and is a returning guest to the podcast. Matthew rejoins David on Macro Musings to discuss this conflict and its broader economic implications. Specifically, Matthew and Davi...
Emily Hamilton on the Current State of the U.S. Housing Market and Solutions for Reform 28.02.2022 58:54
Emily Hamilton is a senior research fellow and director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Emily's research focuses on urban economics and land use policy, and she joins Macro Musings to talk about housing in the United States. Specifically, David and Emily discuss many of the issues present within the American housing market, why we should care about rampan...
Will Diamond on Safe Assets, Risk-Free Rates, and Convenience Yields and their Implications for Policy 21.02.2022 1:05:14
William Diamond is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Will joins David on Macro Musings to discuss safe assets, convenience yields, bubbles and public debt and the implications for policy. Specifically, David and Will get into competing theories of interest rates and the rise of New Keynesian thinking, the role of the dollar in th...
Amanda Rose on the Mission, Governance, and Politics of the SEC and Its Major Challenges Moving Forward 14.02.2022 54:27
Amanda Rose is a professor at Vanderbilt Law School where she works as a scholar on securities law and the institutional design of the regulatory regimes enforcing those laws. Amanda joins Macro Musings to talk about the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), its work and role in promoting financial stability, and her research on the SEC. Amanda and David specifically discuss the politics, gove...
Dan Alpert on Current Trends and Tensions in the US Economy 07.02.2022 47:52
Dan Alpert is an investment banker and a founding Managing Partner of Westwood Capital. He also regularly writes and speaks on big macro-structural issues. Dan joins David on Macro Musings to discuss recent macroeconomic events. Specifically, Dan and David discuss a post-Keynesian account of the global safe asset shortage, the impact of the US policy response to COVID-19, whether inflation will re...
Lubos Pastor and Elisabeth Kempf on *Fifty Shades of QE* and the Implications of QE Research 31.01.2022 43:00
Lubos Pastor is a professor of finance, and Elisabeth Kempf is an associate professor of finance, both at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. They join David on Macro Musings to talk about their recent paper, *Fifty Shades of QE: Comparing Findings of Central Bankers and Academics*. Lubos, Elisabeth, and David specifically discuss the scope, design, and findings of their study, t...
BONUS: George Selgin on the Fed Taper and Shrinking the Fed's Balance Sheet 26.01.2022 32:04
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 the Fed's near-term plans to shrink its balance sheet, the impact of the standing repo facility on demand for reserv...
George Selgin on the Future of CBDC, Fed Accounts, and Stablecoins 24.01.2022 52:49
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. He rejoins the podcast to talk about central bank digital currency, stablecoins, and the future of the Fed's balance sheet and operating system. Specifically, David and George also discuss the challenges present...
Henry Curr on the Myths and Uncomfortable Truths about QE 17.01.2022 51:00
Henry Curr is the economics editor for the Economist Magazine and a returning guest to the show. Henry has a new working paper out titled, "Money Printers Go Grrrr: Three Myths and Three Uncomfortable Truths about Quantitative Easing." Henry joins Macro Musings to discuss these three myths and uncomfortable truths about QE. Specifically, David and Henry discuss the continued relevance of quantitat...
Lorie Logan on Monetary Policy Operations, the Fed's New Standing Repo Facility, and the Future of the Fed's Balance Sheet 10.01.2022 36:51
Lorie Logan is an executive vice president in the Markets Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In that role, she's the manager of the System Open Market Account (SOMA), for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and she is also the head of the market operations, monitoring, and analysis. Lorie joins Macro Musings to talk about the operations side of monetary policy and her work at the...
Paul Krugman on the Year of Inflation Infamy 03.01.2022 41:55
Paul Krugman is a Nobel Laureate in economics, a columnist at The New York Times , and a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He rejoins David on Macro Musings to discuss the great inflation surge of 2021 and its implications for policy. Specifically, David and Paul discuss the state of public opinion surrounding inflation, whether the le...
David Beckworth on the Safe Asset Theory of Inflation, Comparing Central Bank Frameworks, and a Year of Macro Musings in Review 27.12.2021 47:59
In this special end-of-the-year episode of Macro Musings, David Beckworth joins guest host David Andolfatto of the St. Louis Fed to discuss a wide range of macroeconomic topics, including podcast highlights from the whole of 2021. More specifically, both Davids talk about the similarities and differences between average inflation targeting and NGDP targeting, the recent inflation puzzles that have...
Talmon Smith on the Great Inflation Surge of 2021 20.12.2021 47:57
Talmon Smith is an economics reporter for The New York Times and joins David on Macro Musings to talk about the great inflation surge of 2021 and its implications for policy and politics. Specifically, David and Talmon discuss the potential drivers and implications of the great inflation surge that has taken place in 2021, the current and future state of supply chains, the impact of COVID-era stim...
Yesha Yadav on the Fragilities in the Treasury Market and Solutions for Reform 13.12.2021 50:26
Yesha Yadav is a law professor and associate dean at the Vanderbilt University Law School, where she works on banking and financial regulation, securities regulation, and the law of money and payment system. Yesha has written a recent paper titled, *The Failed Regulation of US Treasury Markets*, and she joins Macro Musings to discuss it. Specifically, David and Yesha talk about the implications of...
Carola Binder and Christina Parajon Skinner on Populism and Legitimacy at the Federal Reserve 06.12.2021 53:53
Carola Binder is an Associate Professor of Economics at Haverford College, and Christina Parajon Skinner is an assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Both are returning guests to Macro Musings and they rejoin the podcast to talk about populism at the Fed and its implications for policy. Specifically, they discuss rising technopopulism at the Fed, the effect of...
Matthew Klein on Recent Inflationary Trends and What to Expect in the Future 29.11.2021 50:32
Matthew Klein is the author of The Overshoot , a newsletter that helps readers make sense of the global economy. Matt is also a returning guest to the podcast, and rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the hot topic of inflation and its outlook. Specifically, David and Matt discuss what is driving trend inflation, Matt's decomposition of the CPI, whether or not we should be worried about inflationar...
Markus Brunnermeier on *The Resilient Society* 22.11.2021 51:50
Markus Brunnermeier is a professor of economics and the director of the Bendheim Center for Finance at Princeton University. Markus is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Markus joins Macro Musings to discuss his new book, titled "The Resilient Society," as well as his work on safe assets and their implications for inflation. Specifically, David...
Ajmal Ahmady on the Afghan Economy and the Challenges Facing the Nation's Future 15.11.2021 37:56
Ajmal Ahmady is the former acting governor of the Central Bank of Afghanistan and is now a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Ajmal joins Macro Musings to talk about his experience as a central bank governor in Afghanistan and the challenges now facing the nation's economy. Specifically, David and Ajmal discuss his unique role as the country's central bank chief, the struct...
Similar podcasts
Replaio is not a podcast publisher; show names, artwork and audio belong to their authors and are distributed through public RSS feeds.