Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Business EN ↓ 557 episodes

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

Business

Latest episode

Jul 6, 2026

Where to listen?

Podcasts in the app Replaio Radio Coming soon

Podcasts are coming to the app soon. Install now and be the first to see a whole new take on podcasts

Get it on Google Play Install for free Android 5M+ downloads · 4.8 rating iOS soon

Episodes

Darrell Duffie on Treasury Markets and the Post-COVID Path to Financial Stability 15.06.2020

Darrell Duffie is a professor of finance at Stanford University, and he joins Macro Musings to discuss the treasury market problems that emerged in March 2020 and what can be done to avoid them in the future. Specifically, Darrell and David lay out the current state of financial markets, the ability of treasury markets, as currently designed, to handle demand shocks, and how central banking reform...

Peter Stella on the Fed's Off-Balance Sheet Transactions and Public Financing of the COVID-19 Crisis 08.06.2020

Peter Stella is a former IMF official, where he led the Central Banking and Monetary and Foreign Exchange divisions, and he now hosts a webpage titled *Central Bank Archeology*. Peter is also a former guest of Macro Musings, and rejoins to talk about the COVID-19 crisis, central bank balance sheets, and more. David and Peter also discuss the dangers and challenges of the Fed's off-balance sheet tr...

Adam Tooze on Dollar Dominance, the Eurozone, and the Future of Global Finance 01.06.2020

Adam Tooze is a professor of history at Columbia University, and is the author of many books, including his popular account of the 2007-2009 crisis, titled Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crisis Changed the World. Adam joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the COVID-19 crisis, the Eurozone, and the future of central banking. Specifically, Adam and David break down recent events and risks in t...

Alp Simsek on a Risk-Centric View of Demand, Recession, and Speculation 27.05.2020

Alp Simsek is an associate professor of economics at MIT, and joins Macro Musings to talk about the link between financial markets, uncertainty and the COVID-19 crisis. Specifically, David and Alp discuss the dual absorption problem within financial markets, how supply shocks and demand shocks have inescapably become interwoven phenomenon, and why we should look to using macroprudential policy in...

Thomas Hoenig on Bank Capitalization and Fed Policy after COVID-19 25.05.2020

Thomas Hoenig is a former vice chair of the FDIC, former president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, and is currently a distinguished senior fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Tom's research has focused on the long-term impact of the politicization of financial services, as well as the effects of government grant privileges on market performance. Tom joins David on Ma...

Scott Sumner on the Government's Response to COVID-19 and the Future of Level Targeting 20.05.2020

Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Professor Emeritus of economics at Bentley University, and a research fellow at the Independent Institute. As a returning guest to the podcast, Scott joins Macro Musings to give his latest thoughts on the COVID-19 crisis and its implications for monetary policy. Specifically, David and...

Lev Menand on the Fed's Lending Facilities and the Legal Concerns Surrounding Them 18.05.2020

Lev Menand is a legal scholar at Columbia Law School and has previously worked for the New York Fed, the US Treasury Department, and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). Lev Joins Macro Musings to talk about his new paper, *Unappropriated Dollars: The Fed's Ad Hoc Lending Facilities and the Rules that Govern Them*. Specifically, David and Lev discuss opening up public Fed bank account...

Martin Hellwig on the Recent German Constitutional Court Ruling and Its Potential Eurozone Implications 13.05.2020

Martin Hellwig is the director of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about the Eurozone and the implications of the recent German Constitutional Court (GCC) ruling for the future of the monetary union. David and Martin specifically discuss the background of the perceived Eurozone crisis, the power struggle between the GCC and the European...

Nathan Tankus on Public Finance in the COVID-19 Crisis: A Consolidated Budget Balance View and its Implications for Policy 11.05.2020

Nathan Tankus is the director of research at the Modern Money Network, and a research fellow at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity. Nathan is also the author of a number of articles on the Fed's recent activity at his Substack page titled "Notes on the Crises." Nathan joins Macro Musings to talk about the post-Keynesian view of money, central bank independence, and the consolidated vi...

Anat Admati on the Perils of Corporate Debt and How COVID-19 Relief Efforts Have Gone Wrong 06.05.2020

Anat Admati is a professor of finance and economics at Stanford University, and is well-known for her work on leveraging debt in our financial system and how it makes our economy more susceptible to shocks. She's also a co-author of the popular book, *The Banker's New Clothes: What Went Wrong with Banking and What to Do About It*. Anat joins Macro Musings again to talk about the COVID-19 crisis fr...

Kathryn Judge on the CARES Act and the Political Implications of Relief Efforts 04.05.2020

Kathryn Judge is the Harvey J. Goldschmid Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, the editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation, and an expert on financial markets, financial regulation, and regulatory architecture. Kathryn joins Macro Musings to discuss the CARES Act, the Fed's role and its limitations regarding COVID-19 relief efforts, and the political implications of relief effort perform...

Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde on Central Bank Digital Currency and the Current Economic Responses to COVID-19 29.04.2020

Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde is a professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania, a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research affiliate with the Center for Economic Policy Research, and a returning guest to the podcast. Jesus specializes in macroeconomic modeling and economic history among other topics, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about COVID-19, c...

George Selgin on the Fed-Treasury Relationship, New Lending Facilities, and the Fed's Evolving Role in Response to COVID-19 27.04.2020

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 respons...

Mehrsa Baradaran on How COVID-19 is Exposing Existing Societal Wealth Gaps and Financial Access Challenges 22.04.2020

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 fin...

Nicholas Bloom on Economic Impacts of COVID-19 in the Short-run and Long-run 20.04.2020

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 li...

Brad Setser on Addressing the Global Dollar Shortage and COVID-19's Implications for Worldwide Trade Imbalances 15.04.2020

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...

Alex Tabarrok on COVID-19 Response Efforts, Proposals for Continued Recovery, and Lessons for the Future 13.04.2020

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.   Alex's Twitter: @ATabarrok Alex's GMU profile: https://mason.gmu.edu/~atabarro/   Related Links...

Ashoka Mody on COVID-19's Impacts on Global Trade, Credit Markets and the Broader Eurozone 08.04.2020

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.   Ashoka's Twitter: @AshokaMody Ashoka's Pr...

Peter Conti-Brown on the CARES Act and the Expanding Fed-Treasury Relationship in Response to COVID-19 06.04.2020

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...

Skanda Amarnath, Yakov Feygin, and Elizabeth Pancotti on Municipal Bond Market Intervention and the CARES Act as Responses to COVID-19 01.04.2020

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...

Jim Bianco on Policy Responses to the Coronavirus: Details, Implications, and Concerns Moving Forward 30.03.2020

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.   Jim's Twitter: @biancoresearch Jim's Bl...

Robin Brooks on COVID-19's Impact on Emerging Markets and the Domestic Policy Response to the Crisis 25.03.2020

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...

Stan Veuger on Helping Businesses Survive in the Post-Coronavirus Economy 23.03.2020

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,...

Claudia Sahm on Direct Payments to Individuals and Other Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis 18.03.2020

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 COV...

James Sweeney on the Money View Framework and COVID-19's Implications for the Macro Economy 16.03.2020

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 f...

Listen to the Macro Musings with David Beckworth podcast in Replaio

Radio and podcasts in one app - free, with no sign-up. Install today and do not miss the launch

Get it on Google Play

Replaio is not a podcast publisher; show names, artwork and audio belong to their authors and are distributed through public RSS feeds.