Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Erik Thedéen is governor of Sweden's Riksbank, the world's oldest central bank, Chairman of the Executive Board, and the first sitting central bank governor to appear on Macro Musings. In his first appearance on the show, Erik joins to discuss the history and operation of the Riksbank, the lessons learned from QE, the future of digital payments, 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 September 4th, 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 00:01:41 - Erik's Career 00:03:03 - History of the Riksbank 00:13:04 - Riksbank's Inflation Target 00:15:28 - Riksbank's Operating Framework 00:25:09 - Riksbank's Experiences with QE 00:30:26 - Deposit Facility at Riksbank 00:39:31 - Digital Payments 00:47:27 - Dollar-Based Stablecoins and Sweden 00:50:09 - Tokenization 00:52:37 - Outro

Ellen Correia Golay is a lead Treasury advisor in the markets group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Ellen returns to the program to discuss the lessons of the March 2020 "dash for cash," how all-to-all trading and other market structure reforms could strengthen Treasury market liquidity and resilience, the rise of principal trading firms, and the future of the Fed's standing repo operations, 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 19th, 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 00:01:20 - Ellen's Career and Responsibilities 00:09:29 - The Treasury Market 00:17:15 - All-to-All Trading 00:25:19 - Treasury Market Liquidity 00:32:59 - Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee 00:39:28 - Central Clearing 00:44:51 - Ellen's Policy Wishes 00:46:20 - Outro

Nellie Liang is a former Treasury and Federal Reserve official and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. In Nellie's first appearance on the show, she discusses the future of stablecoins following the GENIUS Act, what stablecoins mean for private money and illicit finance, Fed master accounts, the global role of the dollar, 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 18th, 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 00:01:23 - Nellie's Career 00:05:48 - The GENIUS Act 00:11:31 - Stablecoins as Private Money 00:27:32 - Fed Master Accounts 00:29:53 - Dollar as Global Reserve Currency 00:35:42 - Stablecoins and US Debt 00:46:49 - Nellie's Policy Recommendations 00:50:11 - Outro

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

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

David Wessel is a senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings and is the director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy. In David's first appearance on the show, he discusses stories of the Greenspan Fed, what is was like in Europe when the euro was adopted, the legacy of the Powell Fed, his thoughts on the great man theory, the outlook for the Kevin Warsh Fed, the ongoing challenge of Fed independence, 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 15th, 2026

Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus

Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth

Follow David Wessel on X: @DavidMWessel

Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings

Check out our Macro Musings merch!

Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:48 - David's Career

00:19:30 - Legacies of Fed Chairmans

00:31:51 - Kevin Warsh Fed

00:43:34 - Fed Independence

00:55:13 - Outro