Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Stephen Miran is a former governor of the Federal Reserve, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Donald J. Trump, and currently a senior strategist for Hudson Bay Capital Management. In Steve's third appearance on the show, he discusses his life as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and as a Federal Reserve governor, the Fed's balance sheet, regulatory dominance, the future of the discount window, the possible return of monetarism, 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 August 20th, 2026
Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus
Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth
Follow Stephen Miran on X: @SteveMiran
Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings
Check out our Macro Musings merch!
Timestamps
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:42 - Life as CEA Chair
00:08:40 - Reducing the Fed's Balance Sheet
00:42:23 - A Return to Monetarism?
00:54:32 - Outro

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

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

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

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