Macro Minds

Kallum Pickering welcomes Chris Watling, global chief economist and chief market strategist at Longview Economics, to discuss the distortive role of financial liberalisation on housing markets, growth and productivity in advanced economies such as the UK. Their conversation ends with a discussion about the sustainability of the US economic boom and the risks associated with the potential bubble in the US stock market.

Before founding Longview Economics, Chris started his career at Cazenove in 1994. Prior to that, he trained at KPMG in London.

Kallum Pickering welcomes James Nation, Managing Director at Forefront Advisers for UK Politics and a part-time lecturer in comparative politics at Stanford University. They deep-dive into the practical aspects of UK policymaking and how power is distributed between the various branches of government and the civil service. Comparing differences between US and UK, they look at how checks and balances can succeed or fail to keep governments on track. The discussion ends with a look at the lessons from how the UK managed through the recent period of unusual shocks – Brexit, COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Prior to joining Forefront Advisers, James was Deputy Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and special adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Kallum Pickering welcomes Dr. Mickey Levy, Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, long-standing member of the Shadow Open Market Committee and Wall Street Journal contributor. They discuss the economic policy proposals of US presidential candidates Kamala Harris (Democrat) and Donald Trump (Republican) ahead of the 5 November election and their potential economic and financial market impacts. They also discuss the outlook and policy challenges facing the US Federal Reserve.

Dr. Levy started his career at the Congressional Budget Office and American Enterprise Institute, and for many years was Chief Economist at Bank of America, followed by Berenberg Capital Markets. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of New York and has previously served on the Panel of Economic Advisors to the Federal Reserve of New York, as well as the Advisory Panel of the Office of Financial Research.

Kallum Pickering welcomes Sam Bowman, co-author of 'Foundations - why Britain has stagnated'. They discuss the causes of Britain's economic malaise, how the fixes are mostly obvious and why price signals hold the key to guiding the necessary policy solutions.

Sam Bowman is a founding editor of Works in Progress. Previously, he was director of competition policy at the International Center for Law & Economics, a principal at Fingleton, and executive director of the Adam Smith Institute.

Kallum Pickering welcomes Claudia Sahm to discuss the current state of the US economy, why this time is different for her ‘Sahm Rule’, policy challenges facing the US Federal Reserve, positive technology shocks, and the economic implications of the US election.

Claudia Sahm is Chief Economist at New Century Advisors and a former Federal Reserve economist. She is the creator of the Sahm Rule, a key recession indicator for the US economy.