Recorded live in front of the Wharton Financial Regulation Conference, former guest Peter Conti-Brown joins David Beckworth as a Macro Musings co-host on this week's episode. Peter and David discuss the inflection point of 2008 in FinReg scholarship, how Macro Musings has become just as much a show about financial regulation as about macro, what to make of the Trump administrations changes to bank supervision, whether we should be enthusiastic about the GENIUS Act and digital assets, the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the crisis that could become Claude Mythos, why networks and Substacks are becoming more important, and much more.

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Recorded on April 10th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:29 - History of Financial Regulation

00:04:23 - Monetary Policy vs. Financial Regulation

00:07:48 - Bank Supervision

00:11:59 - Digital Assets

00:22:48 - Claude Mythos and Banking

00:30:35 - The Market Argument for the Discount Window

00:35:44 - Academia vs. Real-World Impact

00:40:28 - Audience Q&A

00:54:16 - Outro

Basil Halperin is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Virginia. In Basil's first appearance on the show he discusses the famous but flawed Citrini essay, why Silicon Valley's growth expectations aren't showing up yet in interest rates, the impact of Less Than Zero by George Selgin, what the true frictions in the economy are, the differences between Calvo and menu-cost pricing, the impact of transformational AI on emerging economies and the housing market, and much more.

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Recorded on March 27th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:20 - Global Intelligence Crisis

00:07:04 - Transformative AI and Interest Rates

00:21:05 - Optimal Monetary Policy Under Menu Costs

00:48:13 - Transformative AI and its Macro Implications

00:55:41 - Outro

Rich Clarida was the vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and is currently a professor of economics at Columbia University and a managing director at PIMCO. Rich returns to the program to discuss whether we give the Fed too little credit for its soft landing, the problem of persistent inflation, how the Fed should respond to rapidly succeeding negative supply shocks, the case for nominal GDP, the state of the Fed's balance sheet, why a synthetic FOMC could help the real FOMC, and much more.

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Recorded on March 31st, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:03:59 - Persistent Inflation

00:11:14 - Inflation Expectations

00:18:34 - Responding to Negative Supply Shocks

00:29:38 - Nominal GDP

00:34:59 - Fed's Balance Sheet

00:45:20 - Synthetic FOMCs

00:51:36 - Outro

Kris Mitchener is a professor of economics at Santa Clara University and is an economic and monetary historian. In Kris's first appearance on the show, he discusses how he fell in love with building data sets out of old dusty archives, the origins and fall of bimetallism, the pros and cons of the gold standard, the problem of operating losses on the Fed's balance sheet, what truly anchors the price level, and much more.

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Recorded on March 4th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:33 - Kris' Career Path

00:06:32 - What Is Bimetallism?

00:14:41 - The Gold Standard

00:28:55 - Disinflation Policies and Central Bank Finances

00:49:25 - What Anchors the Price Level

00:55:22 - Outro

Steve Kamin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and was previously the director of the Division of International Finance at the Federal Reserve Board. Mark Sobel is the US chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum and is a veteran of the US Department of Treasury. Steve and Mark return to the show to discuss the status of dollar dominance, the future threats to dollar dominance, the role or lack thereof that stablecoins will play in dollar dominance, the new findings in the Treasury Foreign Exchange Report, the current state of tariffs, whether we are in a second China shock, and much more.

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Recorded on March 5th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:26 - Termites Eating Away at Dollar Dominance

00:16:52 - Future Threats to Dollar Dominance

00:19:47 - Stablecoins and Dollar Dominance

00:33:40 - Treasury Foreign Exchange Report

00:44:28 - Tariff Policy

00:53:25 - Second China Shock?

01:00:38 - Outro

Ruth Judson is a monetary economist, economic historian, and veteran of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. In Ruth's first appearance on the show she discusses her career at the Fed, field trips tracking counterfeit dollars around the global, how we know how much currency is held overseas, why money doesn't matter anymore, the problem with cashless societies, how to understand TIC data, the promise of dollar backed stablecoins, and much more.

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Recorded on March 4th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:13 - Ruth at the Fed

00:08:09 - Currency

00:31:29 - Counterfeits

00:39:00 - TIC Data and Safe Assets

00:44:18 - Dollar-Based Stablecoins

00:49:55 - Outro

Bill Nelson is a chief research officer and chief economist at the Bank Policy Institute. In Bill's 10th appearance on the show he discusses his infamous email list, the ratchet effect from QE, his congressional testimony, the BPI's Bank Treasurers Survey, how he thinks the Fed should shrink the balance sheet, whether the Fed is profitable, and much more.

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Recorded on March 3rd, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:00 - Quantitative Easing Ratchet Effect

00:16:31 - Bill's Congressional Testimony

00:31:12 - BPI's Bank Treasurers Survey

00:37:37 - How To Shrink the Balance Sheet

00:48:44 - The Fed's Profits

00:54:50 - Outro

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Neha Narula is the director of the Digital Currency Initiative which is based out of the Media Lab at MIT. Anders Brownworth is veteran software engineer in the crypto space and is a Senior Research Advisor at DCI. Daniel Aronoff is Research Affiliate in the MIT Department of Economics and a Collaborator at DCI. Neha, Anders, and Daniel join the show to discuss their work at DCI, the current state of stablecoins, their paper on the hidden plumbing of stablecoins, the basic mechanics of stablecoins, the technical and operational risks of stablecoins, the implications for the treasury market, interoperability between blockchains, and much more.

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Recorded on February 27th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:41 - Background of the Group

00:03:11 - Digital Currency Initiative

00:05:36 - State of Stablecoins

00:10:42 - Hidden Plumbing of Stablecoins

00:15:42 - Basic Mechanics of Stablecoins

00:26:07 - Technical and Operational Risks of Stablecoins

00:39:09 - Implications for the Treasury Market

00:48:18 - Business Model of Stablecoins

00:49:24 - Interoperability Between Blockchains

00:52:53 - What's the Deal with Tether?

00:56:23 - Outro