14 - Mark Thoma on Fiscal Policy, Econometrics, and Political Business Cycles

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.   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-united-states-and-the-united-kingdom/    *Menace of Fiscal QE* by George Selgin https://www.cato.org/books/menace-fiscal-qe   *Central Bank Activism* by Christina Parajon Skinner https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3817123   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

3 Mai 202155min

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.   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/McCauley2021_Article_TheGlobalDomainOfTheDollarEigh.pdf   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

26 Apr 202159min

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.   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://www.jstor.org/stable/1913386?seq=1   *The Dynamic Effects of Aggregate Demand and Supply Disturbances* by Olivier Jean Blanchard and Danny Quah https://www.jstor.org/stable/1827924?origin=JSTOR-pdf&seq=1   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

19 Apr 202156min

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.   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 Currencies* by Matteo Maggiori, Brent Neiman, and Jesse Schreger https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/maggiori/files/mns_pandp.pdf   *A Model of the International Monetary System* by Emmanuel Farhi and Matteo Maggiori https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/farhi/files/ims.pdf   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

12 Apr 202158min

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.   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

5 Apr 202147min

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.   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/book/chicago/M/bo47674126.html   *Milton Friedman and the Economic Debate in the United States, 1932-1972: Volume 2* by Edward Nelson https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo47674466.html   *A Monetary and Fiscal Framework for Economic Stability* by Milton Friedman https://www.jstor.org/stable/1810624?seq=1   *Some Unpleasant Monetarist Arithmetic* by Neil Wallace and Thomas Sargent https://www.minneapolisfed.org/research/quarterly-review/some-unpleasant-monetarist-arithmetic   *Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History* by Milton Friedman https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/261872   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

29 Mar 202157min

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.   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 Framework for Foreign Currency Liquidity Assistance* by Dan Awrey https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2955763   *The Money Problem* by Morgan Ricks https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo22438821.html   David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

22 Mar 202157min

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.   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

15 Mar 202156min