Macro Musings with David Beckworth Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Bill Nelson is the Chief Economist and an Executive Vice President at the Bank Policy Institute. Bill previously was a deputy director at the Division of Monetary Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board where his responsibilities included monetary policy analysis, discount window policy analysis, and financial institution supervision. He also worked closely with the BIS on the design of liquidity regulation. Bill joins David on Macro Musings to discuss the Fed's balance sheet, its reduction plans and how the Fed fell behind the curve. Specifically, David and Bill get into whether the Fed regretted its premature tightening period from 2015 to 2018, how the Fed’s focus on the baseline outlook left it not resilient to alternative developments, how concerns over another taper tantrum impacted the Fed’s decision-making, the Fed’s handling of its FAIT framework, and much more.
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Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings
 
Bill’s Bank Policy Institute profile: https://bpi.com/people/bill-nelson/
Bill’s American Banker archive: https://www.americanbanker.com/author/william-nelson-ab3618
 
Related Links:
“Plane Crashes and Falling Behind the Curve” by Bill Nelson
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/plane-crashes-falling-behind-curve-bill-nelson/?trk=articles_directory
“Guest post: A former Fed insider explains the internal debate over QE3” by Bill Nelson
https://www.ft.com/content/254befb7-10f8-3f2c-a9a8-bc6226a6f1db
"The Potential Ineffectiveness of Policy at the Zero Bound" (Memo to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors) by Bill Nelson and Brian Sack
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fv21og7vpx1izml/BillNelsonMemo.pdf?dl=0 
“Interpreting the Significance of the Lagged Interest Rate in Estimated Monetary Policy Rules” by William B. English, William R. Nelson, and Brian P. Sack
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=314425
 
David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
David’s blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Josh Hendrickson is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Mississippi and Chair of the Economics Department. Josh joins David on Macro Musings to discuss US monetary policy and US defense policy. Specifically, Josh and David discuss the coordination of fiscal and monetary policy and what Milton Friedman would think of it today, the Fed’s responsibility for modern inflation trends, state capacity and how it impacts economic growth, the role of national defense in the context of state capacity and economic growth, and much more.
 
Take the Macro Musings listener survey here.
 
Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings
 
Josh’s Twitter: @RebelEconProf
Josh’s Ole Miss profile: https://economics.olemiss.edu/joshua-hendrickson/
 
Related Links:
 
*Central Banks are Inflation Creators, Not Inflation Fighters* by Joshua R. Hendrickson
https://www.mercatus.org/publications/monetary-policy/central-banks-are-inflation-creators-not-inflation-fighters
 
*Evolution, Uncertainty, and the Asymptotic Efficiency of Policy* by Brian C. Albrecht, Joshua R. Hendrickson, and Alexander William Salter
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3251917
 
*The Coronavirus and Lessons for Preparedness* by Josh Hendrickson
https://www.mercatus.org/publications/covid-19-crisis-response/coronavirus-and-lessons-preparedness
 
*Preventing Plunder, Military Technology, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth* by Brian C. Albrecht, Joshua R. Hendrickson, and Alexander William Salter
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3025548
 
David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com
David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Peter Ireland is a professor of economics at Boston College, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee. Peter has also been a visiting scholar at numerous Federal Reserve Banks and is a returning guest to the podcast. He rejoins Macro Musings to talk about U.S. monetary policy during the pandemic and what the path forward looks like for the Fed and the policy landscape. David and Peter also discuss the current state of macroeconomics, including the most influential and popular business cycle theories, the present direction of policy macro, and whether or not the Fed’s current framework should shoulder blame for its pandemic policy missteps.  
 
Take the Macro Musings listener survey here.
 
Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings
 
Peter’s Twitter: @PIrelandEcon
Peter’s Boston College profile: https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/mcas/departments/economics/people/faculty-directory/peter-ireland.html
 
Related Links:
 
*The Continuing Case for Nominal GDP Level Targeting* by Peter Ireland
http://irelandp.com/papers/somc202204.pdf
 
*Targeting Nominal Income Under the Zero Lower Bound: The Case of the Bank of England* by Michael Belongia and Peter Ireland
https://centerforfinancialstability.org/amfm/studies/ukngdp2021.pdf
 
*Strengthening the Second Pillar: A Greater Role for Money in the ECB’s Strategy* by Michael Belongia and Peter Ireland
http://irelandp.com/papers/eurongdp.pdf
 
*Facts, Fears, and Functionality of NGDP Level Targeting: A Guide to a Popular Framework for Monetary Policy* by David Beckworth
https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/beckworth-ngdp-targeting-mercatus-special-study-v2.pdf
 
*How to Ensure That Inflation Will Remain at the Federal Reserve’s 2 Percent Target* by Robert Hetzel
https://www.mercatus.org/publications/monetary-policy/how-ensure-inflation-will-remain-federal-reserve%E2%80%99s-2-percent-target
 
David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com
David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Jens van 't Klooster is a political economist at the University of Amsterdam's Department of Political Science. Jens rejoins David on Macro Musings to discuss the changes taking place at the European Central Bank. Specifically, Jens and David talk about the ECB’s recent commitment to a gradual process of monetary tightening, the prospect and limitations of market neutrality in setting monetary policy, the rise of technocratic Keynesianism and questions surrounding the political legitimacy of the ECB’s recent policy decisions, as well as the politics surrounding the ECB’s approach to government debt.
 
Take our listener survey here.
 
Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings
 
Jens’s Twitter: @jvklooster
Jens’s website: https://jensvantklooster.com/
 
Related Links:
 
*The Myth of Market Neutrality: A Comparative Study of the European Central Bank’s and the Swiss National Bank’s Corporate Security Purchases* by Jens van ’t Klooster and Clément Fontan
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2019.1657077
 
*Technocratic Keynesianism: A Paradigm Shift Without Legislative Change* by Jens van ’t Klooster
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2021.2013791
 
*The Politics of the ECB’s Market-Based Approach to Government Debt* by Jens van ’t Klooster
https://academic.oup.com/ser/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ser/mwac014/6554757
 
David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com
David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth

Colin Grabow is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies, and he joins Macro Musings to talk about US trade policies, the Jones Act, and the consequences of this harmful maritime statute. Specifically, David and Colin also discuss the counterfactual world of TPP, the future of international trade, and how to fix the myriad of problems caused by the Jones Act.
 
Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings
 
Colin’s Twitter: @cpgrabow
Colin’s Cato Institute profile: https://www.cato.org/people/colin-grabow
 
Related Links:
 
Cato’s Project on Jones Act Reform: https://www.cato.org/project-jones-act-reform
 
*The Jones Act: A Burden America Can No Longer Bear* by Colin Grabow, Inu Manak, and Daniel Ikenson
https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/jones-act-burden-america-can-no-longer-bear
 
*Rust Buckets: How the Jones Act Undermines U.S. Shipbuilding and National Security* by Colin Grabow
https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/rust-buckets-how-jones-act-undermines-us-shipbuilding-national-security
 
*The Progressive Case for Jones Act Reform* by Colin Grabow
https://www.cato.org/study/progressive-case-jones-act-reform#:~:text=The%20Jones%20Act%20is%20unwise,repeal%2C%20of%20this%20odious%20law
 
*Candy-Coated Cartel: Time to Kill the U.S. Sugar Program* by Colin Grabow
https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/candy-coated-cartel-time-kill-us-sugar-program
 
*5 Years Later and the United States is Still Paying for Its TPP Blunder* by Colin Grabow
https://www.cato.org/blog/5-years-later-united-states-still-paying-tpp-blunder
 
*The Cato Trade Team’s 2022 Policy Wish List* by Scott Lincicome, Inu Manak, Gabriella Beaumont-Smith & Colin Grabow
https://www.cato.org/blog/cato-trade-teams-2022-policy-wish-list
 
*For Inflation Relief, the United States Should Look to Trade Liberalization* by Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Megan Hogan, & Yilin Wang
https://www.piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/inflation-relief-united-states-should-look-trade-liberalization#:~:text=For%20inflation%20relief%2C%20the%20United%20States%20should%20look%20to%20trade%20liberalization,-Gary%20Clyde%20Hufbauer&text=With%20US%20inflation%20running%20at,calls%20anticompetitive%20behavior%20by%20corporations
 
*Biden’s Frozen Trade Policy* by Anne Krueger
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-trade-policy-frozen-in-place-under-biden-by-anne-o-krueger-2022-02?barrier=accesspaylog
 
*Clashing over Commerce: A History of US Trade Policy* by Douglas Irwin
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo24475328.html
 
David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
David’s blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Nick Timiraos is a Chief Economics Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and rejoins Macro Musings to discuss his new book titled, *Trillion Dollar Triage: How Jay Powell and the Fed Battled the President and a Pandemic and Prevented Economic Disaster.* Specifically, David and Nick discuss Jay Powell’s background and early career in law and finance, his unique path to being nominated as Fed Chair, how Powell’s character has aided him in his eventful tenure as Fed Chair, how he was uniquely suited to usher in the change to the Fed’s operating framework, and much more.
 
Check out the Conversations with Tyler episode featuring David Rubenstein.
 
Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings
 
Nick’s Twitter: @NickTimiraos
Nick’s Wall Street Journal profile: https://www.wsj.com/news/author/nick-timiraos
 
Related Links:
 
Check out the Conversations with Tyler episode featuring David Rubenstein: https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/david-rubenstein/
 
*Trillion Dollar Triage: How Jay Powell and the Fed Battle the President and a Pandemic and Prevented Economic Disaster* by Nick Timiraos
https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/nick-timiraos/trillion-dollar-triage/9780316272810/
 
David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
David’s blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/