Larry White on Stablecoins, Money Market Funds, and the History of Free Banking
Larry White is a professor of economics at George Mason University and is a returning guest to the show. He rejoins Macro Musings to talk about stablecoins, the history of free banking, and money market funds reform. Specifically, David and Larry also discuss the critiques levied against stablecoins, their impact on the banking system, and why stablecoins could be considered the new version of money market mutual funds. Transcript for the episode can be found here. Larry's Twitter: @lawrencewhite1 Larry's GMU profile: https://economics.gmu.edu/people/lwhite11 Larry's Alt-M profile: https://www.alt-m.org/author/white/ Related Links: *Should We Fear Stablecoins?* by Larry White https://www.alt-m.org/2021/06/24/should-we-fear-stablecoins/ *Taming Wildcat Stablecoins* by Gary Gorton and Jeffery Zhang https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3888752 *Overview of the Recent Events and Potential Reform Options for Money Market Funds* by the President's Working Group on Financial Markets https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/PWG-MMF-report-final-Dec-2020.pdf Larry White on India's Demonetization and Austrian Macroeconomics: https://macromusings.libsyn.com/47-larry-white-on-indias-demonetization-and-austrian-macroeconomics David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
2 Aug 202152min
Jerusalem Demsas on Problems in the US Housing Market and How to Fix Them
Jerusalem Demsas is a policy reporter for Vox and joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the state of housing in America and its implications for policy. Specifically, Jerusalem and David discuss the current state of the housing market, whether there is a housing bubble, how the housing shortage creates avenues for discrimination, the dynamics of racism in the US housing market, the impact of zoning laws, and much more. Transcript for the episode can be found here. Jerusalem's Twitter: @JerusalemDemsas Jerusalem's Vox archive: https://www.vox.com/authors/jerusalem-demsas Related Links: *Housing Constraints and Spatial Misallocation* by Chang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/mac.20170388 *Is There a Housing Bubble?* by Jerusalem Demsas https://www.vox.com/22464801/housing-bubble-market-crash-supply-shortage-great-recession *Stuck! The Law and Economics of Residential Stagnation* by David Schleicher https://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/stuck-the-law-and-economics-of-residential-stagnation *The Housing Shortage Makes Housing Discrimination Much Easier* by Jerusalem Demsas https://www.vox.com/2021/5/26/22453293/housing-supply-shortage-discrimination-real-estate-cover-letters *America's Racist Housing Rules Really Can Be Fixed* by Jerusalem Demsas https://www.vox.com/22252625/america-racist-housing-rules-how-to-fix *The Fight Over Housing Segregation is Dividing one of America's Most Liberal States* by Jerusalem Demsas https://www.vox.com/22335749/housing-prices-connecticut-segregation-zoning-reform-democrats-adu-parking-minimum *Why Does it Cost so Much to Build Things in America* by Jerusalem Demsas https://www.vox.com/22534714/rail-roads-infrastructure-costs-america David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
26 Jul 202153min
Scott Sumner on What Milton Friedman Would Think of Monetary Policy Today
Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center. Scott joins David on Macro Musings to discuss Milton Friedman's views and what he might say about some of the recent developments in monetary policy. Specifically, Scott and David talk about nominal interest rates as indicators of the stance of monetary policy, fiscal austerity as means of reducing excessive aggregate demand, Friedman's critique of the Phillips curve and wage and price controls, what Friedman might have said about the recent inflation numbers, and much more. Transcript for the episode can be found here. Scott's automated Twitter: @MoneyIllusion Scott's blog: https://www.themoneyillusion.com/ Scott's Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/scott-sumner Related Links: *Friedman's Smashing Success* by Scott Sumner https://www.econlib.org/friedmans-smashing-success/ *Inflation is a Nominal Phenomenon* by Scott Sumner https://www.econlib.org/inflation-is-a-nominal-phenomenon/ *The Role of Monetary Policy* (1968) by Milton Friedman https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-24002-9_11 *What Would Milton Friedman Have Thought of Market Monetarism?* by Scott Sumner https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198704324.001.0001/acprof-9780198704324-chapter-15 David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
19 Jul 202153min
Skanda Amarnath on Maximum Employment, Inflation, and the Fed's New Framework
Skanda Amarnath is the executive director of Employ America and a former hedge fund economist. He rejoins Macro Musings to talk about the fate of the Phillips Curve, the inflation outlook, the Fed's new framework, and his vision for a better monetary policy future. David and Skanda also discuss the Fed's flawed assessment of maximum employment, how to modify the central bank's Summary of Economic Projections, and the significance of capacity constraints vs labor utilization. Transcript for the episode can be found here. Skanda's Twitter: @IrvingSwisher Skanda's Employ America archive: https://employamerica.org/author/skandaamarnath/ Skanda's Medium profile: https://medium.com/@skanda_97974 Related Links: *Beyond the Phillips Curve: A Dynamic Approach to Communicating Assessments of 'Maximum Employment'* by Skanda Amarnath and Alex Williams https://employamerica.medium.com/beyond-the-phillips-curve-a-dynamic-approach-to-communicating-assessments-of-maximum-employment-c3eff48b2fcf David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
12 Jul 202151min
Agustin Carstens on Central Banking in Emerging Markets, the Distributional Footprint of Monetary Policy, and Central Bank Digital Currency
Agustin Carstens leads the Bank for International Settlements or the BIS in his role as general manager and previously served as the governor of the Bank of Mexico. He also served as the deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Agustin joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the new BIS 2021 annual report. Specifically, David and Agustin discuss the macroeconomic developments of the past year, the distributional footprint of monetary policy, the evolving role of central banking, and the outlook for central bank digital currency (CBDC). Transcript for the episode can be found here. Agustin's BIS profile: https://www.bis.org/author/agust%C3%ADn_carstens.htm Related Links: *Annual Economic Report 2021* by the BIS https://www.bis.org/publ/arpdf/ar2021e.htm U.S. Monetary Policy and the Global Financial Cycle* by Silvia Miranda-Agrippino and Hélène Rey https://academic.oup.com/restud/article/87/6/2754/5834728?login=true David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
5 Jul 202150min
Jason Furman on Overheating, Inflation, and Fiscal Policy in an Era of Low Interest Rates
Jason Furman is a former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and is currently a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Jason is also a professor at Harvard University and he rejoins Macro Musings to talk about overheating, the inflation outlook, and the right way to think about fiscal policy in an era of low interest rates. Transcript for the episode can be found here. Jason's Twitter: @jasonfurman Jason's Harvard profile: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/jason-furman Jason's PIIE profile: https://www.piie.com/experts/senior-research-staff/jason-furman Related Links: *A Reconsideration of Fiscal Policy in the Era of Low Interest Rates* by Jason Furman and Larry Summers https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/programs/growthpolicy/reconsideration-fiscal-policy-era-low-interest-rates-jason David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
28 Jun 202153min
Steffen Murau on the Eurozone, International Monetary Architecture, and the Future of the Dollar Zone
Steffen Murau is a political economist at the Global Development Policy Center at Boston University and specializes in international money and finance. He joins Macro Musings to talk about the Eurozone, its role within international monetary architecture, and the future of the dollar zone. They also discuss balance sheet hierarchies, the roles of European banks compared to their American counterparts, and the fiscal ecosystem present within the Eurozone. Transcript for the episode can be found here. Steffen's Twitter: @steffenmurau Steffen's website: https://steffenmurau.com/ Steffen's GDPC profile: https://www.bu.edu/gdp/profile/steffen-murau/ Related Links: *A Macro-Financial Model of the Eurozone Architecture Embedded in the Global Offshore US-Dollar System* by Steffen Murau https://www.bu.edu/gdp/files/2020/07/Murau-Eurozone-architecture.pdf *The Hierarchy of the Offshore US-Dollar System: On Swap Lines, the FIMA Repo Facility and Special Drawing Rights* by Steffen Murau, Fabian Paper, and Tobias Pforr https://www.bu.edu/gdp/files/2021/02/Steffen-Murau-GEGI-Study-2-Feb-2021.pdf *The Evolution of the Offshore US-Dollar System: Past, Present, and Four Possible Futures* by Steffen Murau, Joe Rini, and Armin Haas https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/evolution-of-the-offshore-usdollar-system-past-present-and-four-possible-futures/B36ED9082CECE54F3F5B8E8F40D15148 David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
21 Jun 202153min
Daniel Smith and Alexander Salter on *Money and the Rule of Law: Generality and Predictability in Monetary Institutions*
Dan Smith is an associate professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University and directs the Political Economy Research Institute at MTSU. Alex Salter is an associate professor of economics at Texas Tech University. Dan and Alex join David on a special live episode of Macro Musings to discuss their new book, Money and the Rule of Law: Generality and Predictability in Monetary Institutions. Specifically, they discuss knowledge and incentive problems in setting monetary policy, what is meant by "rule of law," how to make monetary policy accountable, centralized versus decentralized forms of digital currencies, thoughts on free banking, and much more. Transcript for the episode can be found here. Alex's Twitter: @alexwsalter Alex's website: https://www.awsalter.com/ Alex's Free Market Institute profile: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/freemarketinstitute/people/salter.php Daniel's Twitter: @smithdanj1 Daniel's website: http://www.danieljosephsmith.com/about.html Daniel's MTSU profile: https://www.mtsu.edu/faculty/daniel-j-smith Related Links: *Seigniorage in a Cross-Section of Countries* by Reid W. Click https://www.jstor.org/stable/2601207 *Money and the Rule of Law: Generality and Predictability in Monetary Institutions* by Peter J. Boettke, Alexander William Salter, and Daniel J. Smith https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/money-and-the-rule-of-law/C825E982EDE5BD2BE41A99464DC885DB David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
14 Jun 202153min
