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!

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

00:00:25 - 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paul Blustein is a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal journalist who has authored several acclaimed books on global economic institutions. In Paul’s first appearance on the show, he discusses the historical rise of the dollar, it’s present-day power, how it compares to other global currencies, current challenges to its power, the rise of crypto, and much more.

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

Recorded on March 26th, 2025

Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus

Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth

Follow Paul Blustein on X: @PaulBlustein

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

(00:00:52) – Paul’s Books

(00:05:08) – Motivations for King Dollar

(00:09:02) – History of the Dollar

(00:12:57) – Nixon Shock of 1971

(00:23:36) – Paul Volcker

(00:33:14) – Dollar Dominance and Statecraft

(00:40:46) – What About the Euro?

(00:44:42) – Cryptocurrency as a Rival to the Dollar

(00:47:54) – Drawbacks of Dollar Dominance

(00:57:03) – Outro