Podcast
Macro Musings with David Beckworth
Hosted by Mercatus Center at George Mason University · EN
Hosted by David Beckworth of the Mercatus Center, Macro Musings pulls back the curtain on the important macroeconomic issues of the past, present, and future.
43episodes
Episodes
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Gianluca Benigno on Central Bank Balance Sheets, Stablecoins, and Nonlinear Inflation
5d ago00:54:04Tap to summarizeGianluca Benigno is a professor of economics at the University of Lausanne. Previously, he was a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an economist at the Bank of England. Gianluca returns to the program to discuss financial r-star, the changing landscape of central bank balance sheets, the unique challenges facing the Swiss National Bank, how stablecoins could affect Treasury markets and the demand for reserves, the return of nonlinear inflation, its implications for monetary policy, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on June 22nd, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Gianluca Benigno on X: @BenignoGianluca Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:41 - R-Double-Star 00:04:10 - Central Bank Balance Sheets 00:09:22 - Swiss National Bank 00:32:05 - Working Paper on the Regulation of Stablecoins 00:45:41 - Inflation 00:53:19 - Outro
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Barry Eichengreen, Paul Blustein, and Brendan Greeley on Dollar Dominance
2w ago00:58:56Tap to summarizeBarry Eichengreen is a is well known author, economist, and economic historian from the University of California, Berkeley. Paul Blustein is a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal journalist who has authored several acclaimed books on global economic institutions. Brendan Greeley is a veteran journalist from the Financial Times and current PhD student at Princeton studying monetary history. They all return to the show for a special roundtable discussion where they discuss the history of dominant currencies, whether we will always end up with a single reserve currency, whether monetary sovereignty is earned or given, the question of exorbitant privilege, what there is to do about a second China Shock, the future of dollars in the digital age, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 11th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Barry Eichengreen on X: @B_Eichengreen Follow Paul Blustein on X: @PaulBlustein Follow Brendan Greeley on X: @BHGreeley Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:01 - On Each Author's Book 00:11:12 - Globally Dominant Currencies 00:25:37 - Single Reserve Currency 00:28:34 - Fed's Control Over Global Dollar System 00:38:39 - Exorbitant Privilege 00:46:30 - China Shock 2.0 00:49:23 - Future of the Global Dollar System 00:58:16 - Outro
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David Wessel on the Fed's Current Inflection Point
3w ago00:55:54Tap to summarizeDavid Wessel is a senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings and is the director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy. In David's first appearance on the show, he discusses stories of the Greenspan Fed, what is was like in Europe when the euro was adopted, the legacy of the Powell Fed, his thoughts on the great man theory, the outlook for the Kevin Warsh Fed, the ongoing challenge of Fed independence, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on June 15th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow David Wessel on X: @DavidMWessel Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:48 - David's Career 00:19:30 - Legacies of Fed Chairmans 00:31:51 - Kevin Warsh Fed 00:43:34 - Fed Independence 00:55:13 - Outro
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Sam Lyman on the Digital Payments Race Between the US and China
4w ago00:58:24Tap to summarizeSam Lyman is the head of research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and formerly was a senior advisor and speechwriter for Treasury Secretary Bessent. In Sam's first appearance on the show, he discusses Secretary Bessent's secret skill, the competition in the digital payments space between the US and China, why the strategic Bitcoin reserve is important, what the future of Bitcoin holds, where things stand with the CLARITY Act, the Q Day conundrum, whether Satoshi Yakamoto is alive or dead, where Sam thinks the anti-AI sentiment is coming from, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 21st, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Sam on X: @SamLyman33 Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:49 - Sam's Career 00:05:37 - Nation-States and Digital Payments 00:14:40 - Strategic Bitcoin Reserve 00:18:29 - Future of Bitcoin 00:24:27 - Bitcoin vs. Dollar-Based Stablecoins 00:38:32 - Update on the CLARITY Act 00:44:48 - Quantum Computing 00:49:34 - Satoshi Yakamoto 00:52:20 - Foreign Campaign Against AI 00:57:44 - Outro
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Stephan Luck on What History can Teach Us about Financial Stability
Jul 1300:57:47Tap to summarizeStephan Luck is a Financial Research Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In Stephan's first appearance on the show, he discusses how the 2008 Great Financial Crisis shaped his career, how he and his coauthors leverage LLMs to comb through massive amounts of historical data, what this data can teach us about responding to bank failures, what people get wrong when they try and make historical analogies to the GENIUS era, the lessons we can learn from the German hyperinflation, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on June 1st, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:55 - Stephan's Career 00:11:21 - Bank Failures 00:28:19 - Policy Implications of Bank Failures 00:37:21 - National Banking System 00:46:30 - German Hyperinflation 00:57:06 - Outro
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Barry Eichengreen on the History of Global Currencies
Jul 600:57:09Tap to summarizeBarry Eichengreen is a well known author, economist, and economic historian from the University of California, Berkeley. In Barry's first appearance on the show he discusses a career in untangling the world's monetary history, the origins of his new book Money Beyond Borders: Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto, the first uses on currencies in the 7th Century BC, the unexpected start of the dollar, how we landed on the central bank model, the dollar's rise to global reserve currency, which if any currencies as poised to take on the dollar, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 27th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Barry on X: @B_Eichengreen Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:17 - Barry's Books 00:10:14 - Money Beyond Borders 00:17:17 - Lydia and Greece 00:20:46 - Renaissance of Credits 00:23:36 - Spanish Silver 00:28:26 - The Emergence of Central Banks 00:38:11 - British Empire vs. Roman Empire 00:43:34 - Dollar as One of the Dominant Reserve Currencies 00:56:29 - Outro
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Yesha Yadav, Chris Odinet, and Andrea Tosato on the Moneyness of Stablecoins
Jun 2901:11:31Tap to summarizeYesha Yadav is a professor of law, the Milton R. Underwood Chair, the Associate Dean & Robert Belton Director of Culture & Community, and the Co-Faculty Director, Master of Laws (LL.M) Program at the Vanderbilt University Law School. Chris Odinet is a professor of law, Mosbacher Research Fellow, and Affiliate Professor of Finance at Texas A&M University School of Law. Andrea Tosato is professor of law at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. Yesha, Chris, and Andrea join the show to discuss their avenues into stablecoin regulation, their four-part definition of moneyness (nature of the claim, safety, discharge capacity, and negotiability), how Tether and Circle stack up to these definitions, the stablecoin bankruptcy conundrum, the progress the GENIUS Act made on closing legal loopholes, their prescriptions for policymakers, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 20th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Chris on X: @ChisOdinet Follow Andrea on X: @Andrea_Tosato Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:26 - Career Backgrounds of Chris, Yesha, and Andrea 00:02:35 - Background on the Paper 00:06:52 - Structure of Money 00:17:33 - Moneyness: Nature of the Claim 00:22:37 - Moneyness: Safety 00:23:45 - Moneyness: Discharge Capacity 00:30:50 - Moneyness: Negotiability 00:31:55 - How Stablecoins Currently Hold Up in Moneyness 00:58:18 - Recommendations to Policymakers 01:10:51 - Outro
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Jeffrey Lacker on What a New Fed Treasury Accord Might Look Like
Jun 2200:56:30Tap to summarizeJeffrey Lacker is the former president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank and is a senior affiliated scholar at the Mercatus Center. Jeff returns to the show to discuss the history of the Fed Treasury Accord, the state of fiscal dominance, his five proposals for a new Fed Treasury Accord, his calls for reform around the discount window, a memorial to his friend and colleague Charlie Plosser, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 20th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:56 - Fed Treasury Accord 00:18:26 - Fiscal Dominance 00:22:05 - Jeff's Five Proposals 00:49:05 - Charlie Plosser 00:55:49 - Outro
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Nik Bhatia on Bitcoin and the Case for Using Stablecoins for Statecraft
Jun 1500:59:16Tap to summarizeNik Bhatia is an author of two economics books, a visiting fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and the founder of The Bitcoin Layer. In Nik's first appearance on the podcast, he discusses his niche in the Bitcoin community, the role of Bitcoin as a transaction asset, the threat or lack thereof of quantum computing on Bitcoin, his issues with the current eurodollar market, his new proposal to use stablecoins as statecraft, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 5th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Nik X: @Timevalueofbtc Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:49 - Nik's Career and Background 00:12:32 - Crypto Assets for Transactions 00:18:28 - Quantum Computing and Bitcoin 00:24:08 - Stablecoins as Statecraft 00:58:36 - Outro
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Bryan Cutsinger, Peter Ireland, and Will Luther on Lessons Learned from the Fed Framework Review
Jun 801:03:46Tap to summarizeBryan Cutsinger is an assistant professor of economics at the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University. Peter Ireland is a professor of Economics at Boston College. Will Luther is an associate professor of economics at the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University and is the director of the American Institute for Economic Research's Sound Money Project. Bryan, Peter, and Will return to the show to discuss the big takeaways from the 2025 Fed framework review, the flip flopping of FIT to FAIT back to FIT, the biggest lessons from the 2020 Fed framework review, the case for NGDP targeting at the Fed, hope for future reviews, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 6th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Bryan X: @BryanPCutsinger Follow Peter X: @PIrelandecon Follow Will X: @WilliamJLuther Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:51 - Origins of Bryan, Will, and Peter's Paper 00:03:40 - Big Takeaways 00:06:14 - The Fed's 2020 Framework Review 00:12:43 - Lessons Learned from 2020 Review 00:14:38 - Nominal GDP Targeting and Productivity Shocks 00:26:59 - Reviewing the Fed's 2025 Framework Review 00:57:20 - Hopes for the Future 01:03:06 - Outro
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