Macro Musings with David Beckworth

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.

Macro Musings with David Beckworth is a business podcast hosted by David Beckworth, with 564 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

David Beckworth hosts Macro Musings with David Beckworth, a business show with 564 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #558

  Donald Kohn on the Fed's Past, Present, and Future

  Aug 31, 20261h 9m

  Donald Kohn is a 40-year veteran of the Federal Reserve System and a senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. Don returns to the program to discuss the lessons of the Greenspan Fed, how Kevin Warsh should think about communication and forward guidance, why inflation remains a concern, the Fed's new task forces, the future of its monetary policy tools, 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 July 22nd, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:25 - Working with Paul Volcker 00:08:22 - Working with Alan Greenspan 00:22:11 - The Kevin Warsh Fed 00:31:21 - Fighting Inflation 00:43:26 - Balance Sheet Task Force 01:08:21 - Outro

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  Episode #557

  Ben Harris on AI, Fiscal Sustainability, and the Resilience of the U.S. Economy

  Aug 24, 202657 min

  Ben Harris is vice president and director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution and previously served in senior economic policy roles at the Treasury Department and Council of Economic Advisers. Ben returns to the program to discuss why recent economic shocks have been less damaging than expected, the outlook for inflation and energy markets, whether AI can improve the U.S. fiscal outlook, why we should temper our AI optimism, how longer lifespans and higher interest rates could complicate the fiscal picture, 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 July 20th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Follow Ben on X: @econ_harris Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:55 - Reasons We Were Wrong 00:11:58 - Stubborn Inflation 00:14:57 - Crude Is Not Really the Problem 00:20:12 - A Novel Sanctions Regime 00:30:35 - Temper Your AI Optimism 00:39:34 - Longer Lives, But Larger Debt 00:45:00 - AI and the Future of Interest Rates 00:49:24 - Policy Implications 00:56:26 - Outro

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  Episode #556

  Bill Nelson on Shrinking the Fed's Balance Sheet and Reviving Interbank Markets

  Aug 17, 202655 min

  Bill Nelson is chief research officer and chief economist at the Bank Policy Institute and a former deputy director of the Division of Monetary Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board. In Bill's 11th appearance on the show, he discusses how central banks are rethinking their operating systems, the case for a smaller Fed balance sheet and more routine discount window borrowing, the revival of interbank markets, lessons from Silicon Valley Bank, 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 July 20th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:29 - Bill's Work with Central Banks Abroad 00:11:03 - Reducing the Fed's Balance Sheet 00:30:28 - Fed's Use of a Demand-Driven System 00:40:40 - Voluntary Reserve Target 00:54:31 - Outro

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  Episode #555

  Gianluca Benigno on Central Bank Balance Sheets, Stablecoins, and Nonlinear Inflation

  Aug 10, 202654 min

  Gianluca 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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  Episode #554

  Barry Eichengreen, Paul Blustein, and Brendan Greeley on Dollar Dominance

  Aug 3, 202659 min

  Barry 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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