Jeffrey Frankel is a professor and economist at Harvard University and the director of the Program in International Finance and Macroeconomics at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He joins the show to discuss serving on the NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee, which officially declares the start and end of recessions. David and Jeff also discuss the monetary history of the Plaza Accord, an international agreement in 1985 to devalue the U.S. dollar. Jeff also shares his thoughts on globalization in the past few decades and current-day challenges facing it. David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/ Jeff Frankel's Harvard profile: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/jeffrey-frankel Jeff Frankel's NBER publications: http://www.nber.org/authors/jeffrey_frankel David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Related links: "Globalization of the Economy" by Jeffrey Frankel https://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/jfrankel/NyeGlobWPwFigPost.pdf "Globalization and Chinese Growth: End of Trends" by Jeffrey Frankel http://scholar.harvard.edu/frankel/publications/globalization-and-chinese-growth-ends-trends "The Plaza Accord: 30 Years Later" by Jeffrey Frankel https://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/jfrankel/PlazaAccord-PIIE2016.pdf