Paul Blustein on the Rise, Dominance, and Current Challenges to King Dollar

Paul Blustein is a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal journalist who has authored several acclaimed books on global economic institutions. In Paul’s first appearance on the show, he discusses the historical rise of the dollar, it’s present-day power, how it compares to other global currencies, current challenges to its power, the rise of crypto, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on March 26th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Paul Blustein on X: @PaulBlustein Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel  Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:00:52) – Paul’s Books (00:05:08) – Motivations for King Dollar (00:09:02) – History of the Dollar (00:12:57) – Nixon Shock of 1971 (00:23:36) – Paul Volcker (00:33:14) – Dollar Dominance and Statecraft (00:40:46) – What About the Euro? (00:44:42) – Cryptocurrency as a Rival to the Dollar (00:47:54) – Drawbacks of Dollar Dominance (00:57:03) – Outro  

Bill Nelson is a Chief economist and an executive vice president at the Bank Policy Institute. Bill returns to the show to discuss the changes at many central banks around the world from a supply-driven floor system to a demand-driven floor system and how the Fed has been resistant to this change. Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on March 6th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel  Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:01:35) – Trend Toward a Demand-Driven Ceiling System (00:07:32) – Will the Fed Follow Suit? (00:13:11) – Bank of England’s New Policy Implementation Framework (00:21:33) – Bill’s Suggestions for the Fed’s Implementation Framework (00:39:18) – Responding to Lorie’s Case for the Floor System (00:59:11) – Outro  

Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Scott Lincicome is the vice president of general economics and trade at Cato. Scott returns to the program to discuss the past, present, and future of Trump’s trade war, the impact of tariffs on the US consumer, myths about globalization, the state of globalization worldwide, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on March 19th, 2025 Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Scott Lincicome on X: @ScottLincicome Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel  Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:01:01) – Cato’s Trade Center (00:04:06) – Current State of Trump’s Trade War (00:14:09) – Trade War Strategy (00:20:48) – Break in the Globalization Trend (00:29:51) – Bilateral Trade Deficit View (00:54:01) – Comparative Advantage (01:00:30) – How to Support Free Trade (001:01:44) – Outro  

Sign up for David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Lyman Stone is a demographer and the director of the Pronatalism Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies. In Lyman’s first appearance on the show, he discusses demographic and marriage decline, the fallacy in the thinking of degrowthers, the benefits of pronatalist policy, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on February 13th, 2025 Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Lyman Stone on X: @LymanStoneKY Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel  Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:02:04) – Lyman Stone’s Career Path (00:04:54) – Demography as a Discipline (00:10:41) – Demographic Decline (00:15:28) – Decline of Marriage (00:32:24) – Degrowthers (00:43:15) – Possible Policy Solutions (00:54:50) – Outro  

Sign up for David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Athanasios Orphanides is a professor at MIT, formerly served at the Federal Reverse for 15 years, and was the Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus. In Athanasios’s first appearance of show he discussed real-time monetary policy rules, their implication on the Fed’s framework review, his natural growth target, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on February 18th, 2025 Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel  Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Substack Announcement (00:00:49) – Intro (00:02:24) – Athanasios’ Career Journey (00:06:08) – Real-Time Policy Rules (00:23:36) – Potential Drawbacks of Monetary Rules (00:28:46) – Natural Growth Targeting Rule (00:37:31) – Federal Reserve’s Framework Review (00:57:02) – Outro

Dean Ball is a research fellow at the Mercatus Center. In Dean’s first appearance on the show, he explains the AI revolution, current AI developments, policy implications of the AI boom, and the future of AI. Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on February 19th, 2025 Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Follow Dean on X: @Deanwball Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel  Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:01:03) – Dean’s Background in Artificial Intelligence (00:03:32) – Recent AI Events (00:22:03) – Policy Implications (00:33:58) – AI and the Future (00:56:34) – Outro

Liya Palagashvili is a senior research fellow and director of the Labor Policy Project at the Mercatus Center. In Liya’s first appearance on the show she explains federal and state level changes to labor regulations, who makes up the gig economy workforce, the role women play in the independent workforce, the novel concept of portable benefits, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on January 31st, 2025 Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Follow Liya on X: MissLiyaP Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel  Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:01:37) – Liya’s Background and Interest in Labor Economics (00:03:18) – Labor Policy Project and Labor Market Matters (00:07:32) –Independent Contractors and the Gig Economy (00:17:20) – Independent Work as a Buffer from Shocks (00:23:40) – Women and Independent Work (00:31:01) – Men in the Independent Workforce (00:35:23) – Myths Surrounding the Gig Economy (00:39:36) – Portable Benefits for Independent Workers (00:49:48) – Port Strikes and Dynamic Labor Markets (01:02:36) – Outro

Evan Koenig is a former senior aide to the president of the Dallas Fed. Evan returns to the show to discuss, the ins and outs of nominal GDP targeting, the practical applications of NGDP targeting, the reasons the Fed should consider it for the framework review, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on October 29th, 2024 Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel  Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:01:06) – Evan Koenig at the Fed (00:02:04) – Nominal GDP Targeting (00:06:22) – Why the Fed Didn’t Consider Nominal GDP Targeting (00:17:25) – How to Explain Nominal GDP Targeting to the Public (00:23:10) – Main Arguments for Nominal GDP Targeting (00:33:52) – Practical Applications of Nominal GDP (00:47:19) – Nominal GDP Targeting and the Fed’s Upcoming Framework Review (00:50:57) – Outro

Steven Kelly is the associate director of research as the Yale Program on Financial Stability. Steven returns to the show to discuss his new model, the Treasury Equity Model of the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending. Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on January 23rd, 2025 Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Steven Kelly: @StevenKelly49 Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel  Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:00:47) – The Discount Window and Its Current Momentum (00:03:22) – Evaluating the Treasury-Equity Model of Fed Emergency Lending (00:07:33) – The Fed’s Section 13(3) Facilities (00:12:54) – Creation of Section 13(3) (00:16:46) – Currency Swap Lines (00:18:36) – Beginnings of the Treasury-Equity Model (00:28:16) – Treasury-Equity Model During COVID-19 Pandemic (00:40:12) – Banking Turmoil of 2023 (00:46:15) – Advice for the Fed (00:47:50) – Outro

Pat Toomey is a former senator from the state of Pennsylvania and served on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. In Pat’s first appearance on the show he discussed his career in public service, Fed master accounts, the future on monetary policy, his quest for Fed accountability, the looming debt issue, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on January 23rd, 2025 Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Pat Toomey: @SenToomey Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our new AI chatbot: the Macro Musebot! Join the new Macro Musings Discord server! Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel  Timestamps: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:01:09) – Senator Toomey’s Committee Work (00:21:21) – Federal Reserve Master Accounts (00:27:07) – Accountability of the Fed (00:30:07) – Monetary Policy (00:45:19) – Debts, Deficits, and Fiscal Policy (00:57:22) – Outro