Jim Clouse on the Last 4 Decades at the Most Powerful Central Bank in the World

Jim Clouse is a veteran of the Federal Reserve System and is currently a fellow at the Andersen Institute. In Jim’s first appearance on the show, he discusses the evolution of monetary rules at the Fed, what happened at the Fed during Y2K, 9/11, the Great Financial Crisis, and the COVID Pandemic, the ever changing stigma of the discount window, Ted Cruz’s calls to end interest on reserves, and much more.

Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links.

Recorded on September 11th, 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

00:03:16 - Jim’s Career

00:05:38 - Monetary Rules at the Fed

00:09:12 - Increasing Transparency at the Fed

00:17:25 - Y2K and the Fed

00:26:19 - Discount Window

00:32:21 - Global Financial Crisis

00:39:10 - Covid Pandemic

00:46:10 - Jim’s Current Research

01:00:31 - Outro