Andy Levin is a professor of economics at Dartmouth College and longtime advisor to many central banks. Andy returns to the show to discuss his policy brief on holding the Fed accountable for its spending practices.

Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links.

Recorded on April 9th, 2025

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Timestamps:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:00:50) – Andy’s Professional Background

(00:02:07) – Overstaffed or Overworked?

(00:04:09) – The Fed’s Extraordinary Independence

(00:10:10) – Inspector Generals and the Fed

(00:20:33) – The Fed’s Workers and Payroll

(00:37:35) – Updates to the Fed’s Headquarters

(00:48:24) – Other Fed Challenges

(00:56:26) – How to Improve the Fed

(00:58:24) – Outro

Kathryn Judge is a law professor at Columbia University and a legal scholar of the Federal Reserve and financial policy. Kathryn returns to the show to discuss the Fed’s Emergency Lending Facilities, or 13(3) and current happenings at the Federal Reserve.

Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links.

Recorded on March 27th, 2025

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Timestamps:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:01:43) – History of Section 13(3)

(00:03:55) – Increasing Use of 13(3)

(00:06:55) – Unusual and Exigent Circumstances

(00:08:53) – Changes to 13(3)

(00:13:17) – Classification of the Facilities

(00:21:13) – Should the Fed Be Doing Emergency Lending?

(00:25:42) – Feature or Bug?

(00:33:19) – Fed Independence

(00:47:45) – Regionalism of the Fed

(00:55:23) – Outro

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

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Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth

Follow Paul Blustein on X: @PaulBlustein

Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings

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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