99 – Edward Nelson on Money, its Role within Monetary Policy, and the Monetarist Legacy

Peter Conti-Brown is a historian and legal scholar of the Federal Reserve System, and an associate professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Sean Vanatta is a senior lecturer in financial history and policy at the University of Glasgow. Peter and Sean join the show to discuss their new book titled: Private Finance, Public Power: A History of Bank Supervision in America, as well as how powerlifting can be analogized in macroeconomics, and the implications of Trump v. Wilcox. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 27th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:02 - Powerlifting 00:06:17 - Trump v. Wilcox 00:12:27 - Private Finance, Public Power 00:15:18 - Supervision vs. Regulation 00:22:52 - Banking in the Early Republic 00:36:10 - Consolidation of Regulators 00:41:06 - Focus of the Fed 00:45:00 - The Great Depression 00:56:10 - When to Let a Bank Fail 01:02:47 - Outro

9 Kesä 20251h 3min

George Selgin is a senior fellow and director emeritus at the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute, as well as the author of the new book titled False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933-1947. George returns to the show to discuss the complicated economic history of the Great Depression, how that history has led us to the macro-events of 2008, 2010, and 2020, how we can apply lessons from the Great Depression to macroeconomic policy to the current moment, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 13th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Follow George on X: @GeorgeSelgin Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:25 - Welcoming George Selgin and False Dawn 00:03:25 - Why Another Book on the Great Depression? 00:06:37 - The New Deal's Role in Recovery from the Great Depression 00:08:50 - Myths About the New Deal Overview of the Great Depression 00:12:30 - Measuring Unemployment 00:16:42 - The Gold Standard and the Great Depression 00:27:05 - Helpful: Suspension of the Gold Standard and the Bank Holiday 00:35:47 - Unhelpful: Reconstruction Finance Corporation 00:38:02 - Helpful: Creation of the Home Owners Loan Corporation 00:42:31 - Unhelpful: The National Recovery Administration 00:48:42 - Unhelpful: Fiscal and Monetary Policy and Ignoring Keynes 00:57:17 - Lessons for Today: Uncertainty 01:00:56 - The Lesson of Level Targeting 01:06:42 - Breaching Contracts 01:11:40 - Outro

2 Kesä 20251h 12min

Daniel Bunn is the president and CEO of the Tax Foundation. In Daniel's first appearance on the show, he discusses the history of tax models, the threat that tariffs make to the US economy, where we currently stand with budget reconciliation, how he would fix the tax code if he was president, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 2nd, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Follow Daniel on X: @DanielBunn Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:01:01) – Daniel's Background and the Tax Foundation (00:03:35) – Tax Foundation's Model (00:7:38) – History of Tax Models (00:14:26) – Fiscal Condition of the United States (00:19:24) – Tariffs and Revenue (00:35:55) – Budget Resolution (00:45:43) – Daniel's Proposed Solutions (00:49:10) – Outro

26 Touko 202549min

Luca Fornaro is a senior researcher at CREI and professor at both UPF and the Barcelona School of Economics. In Luca's first appearance on the show, he discusses his expansive work on, hysteresis, stagnation traps, endogenous growth, aggregate demand policies, the medium run, population growth and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on April 23th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Follow Luca on X: @LucaFornaro3 Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:00:51) – Luca's Background (00:03:19) – Hysteresis (00:7:23) – Why Talk About Hysteresis Now? (00:10:55) – Stagnation Trap (00:16:07) – The Medium Run (00:22:25) – Managing Expectations with Automatic Stabilizers (00:28:48) – What About Population Growth? (00:31:47) – The Empirical Side (00:39:24) – Directing Capital Flows (00:42:30) – The Scars of Supply Shocks (00:48:57) – The Nominal GDP Targeting Solution (00:51:28) – Fiscal Stagnation (00:59:21) – Outro

19 Touko 20251h

Adam Ozimek is the Chief Economist at the Economic Innovation Group. Adam returns to the show to discuss the importance of reforming the high-skilled immigration process, the main bottlenecks with our current green card system, the glory days of economics blogging, how to revitalize the American heartland, Trump's current trade war, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on April 15th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Follow Adam on X: @ModeledBehavior Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:00:50) – Blogging Days (00:02:33) – How to Fix High-Skilled Immigration (00:27:08) – Busting the Myths (00:33:58) – Additional Parts of Adam's Immigration Proposal (00:40:13) – Trump's Trade War (00:58:25) – Outro

12 Touko 202559min

Skanda Amarnath is the executive director of Employ America. Skanda returns to the show to discuss the standing of Humphrey's Executor, the prospects for the Fed's Framework Review, the case for NGDP Targeting, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on April 16th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Follow Skanda on X: @IrvingSwisher Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:02:01) – Humphrey's Executor (00:12:35) – The Fed's Framework Review (00:37:18) – Fed's Communication (00:47:36) – Productivity (00:59:07) – Outro

5 Touko 202559min

Andy Levin is a professor of economics at Dartmouth College and longtime advisor to many central banks. Andy returns to the show to discuss his policy brief on holding the Fed accountable for its spending practices. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on April 9th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:00:50) – Andy's Professional Background (00:02:07) – Overstaffed or Overworked? (00:04:09) – The Fed's Extraordinary Independence (00:10:10) – Inspector Generals and the Fed (00:20:33) – The Fed's Workers and Payroll (00:37:35) – Updates to the Fed's Headquarters (00:48:24) – Other Fed Challenges (00:56:26) – How to Improve the Fed (00:58:24) – Outro

28 Huhti 202559min

Kathryn Judge is a law professor at Columbia University and a legal scholar of the Federal Reserve and financial policy. Kathryn returns to the show to discuss the Fed's Emergency Lending Facilities, or 13(3) and current happenings at the Federal Reserve. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on March 27th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Kathryn Judge on X: @ProfKateJudge Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:01:43) – History of Section 13(3) (00:03:55) – Increasing Use of 13(3) (00:06:55) – Unusual and Exigent Circumstances (00:08:53) – Changes to 13(3) (00:13:17) – Classification of the Facilities (00:21:13) – Should the Fed Be Doing Emergency Lending? (00:25:42) – Feature or Bug? (00:33:19) – Fed Independence (00:47:45) – Regionalism of the Fed (00:55:23) – Outro

21 Huhti 202556min