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Matthew Pines is the executive director of the Bitcoin Policy institute. Matthew returns to the show to discuss the future of Bitcoin as a strategic reserve, US stablecoin regulation, geopolitics under Trump, monetary policy at the Fed, and much more.

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

Recorded on May 16th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:54 - Matthew’s Career Path and BPI

00:03:28 - Bitcoin and National Security

00:06:41 - Bitcoin Policy Summit

00:09:24 - State of Crypto Legislation

00:13:13 - Geoeconomics

00:24:17 - The Dollar’s Future

00:31:56 - Stablecoin Use Cases

00:39:29 - Future of Money

00:45:50 - Future of Monetary Policy

00:52:27 - Outro

Peter Conti-Brown is a historian and legal scholar of the Federal Reserve System, and an associate professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Sean Vanatta is a senior lecturer in financial history and policy at the University of Glasgow. Peter and Sean join the show to discuss their new book titled: Private Finance, Public Power: A History of Bank Supervision in America, as well as how powerlifting can be analogized in macroeconomics, and the implications of Trump v. Wilcox.

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

Recorded on May 27th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:02 - Powerlifting

00:06:17 - Trump v. Wilcox

00:12:27 - Private Finance, Public Power

00:15:18 - Supervision vs. Regulation

00:22:52 - Banking in the Early Republic

00:36:10 - Consolidation of Regulators

00:41:06 - Focus of the Fed

00:45:00 - The Great Depression

00:56:10 - When to Let a Bank Fail

01:02:47 - Outro

George Selgin is a senior fellow and director emeritus at the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute, as well as the author of the new book titled False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933-1947. George returns to the show to discuss the complicated economic history of the Great Depression, how that history has led us to the macro-events of 2008, 2010, and 2020, how we can apply lessons from the Great Depression to macroeconomic policy to the current moment, and much more.

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

Recorded on May 13th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:25 - Welcoming George Selgin and False Dawn

00:03:25 - Why Another Book on the Great Depression?

00:06:37 - The New Deal’s Role in Recovery from the Great Depression

00:08:50 - Myths About the New Deal Overview of the Great Depression

00:12:30 - Measuring Unemployment

00:16:42 - The Gold Standard and the Great Depression

00:27:05 - Helpful: Suspension of the Gold Standard and the Bank Holiday

00:35:47 - Unhelpful: Reconstruction Finance Corporation

00:38:02 - Helpful: Creation of the Home Owners Loan Corporation

00:42:31 - Unhelpful: The National Recovery Administration

00:48:42 - Unhelpful: Fiscal and Monetary Policy and Ignoring Keynes

00:57:17 - Lessons for Today: Uncertainty

01:00:56 - The Lesson of Level Targeting

01:06:42 - Breaching Contracts

01:11:40 - Outro

Daniel Bunn is the president and CEO of the Tax Foundation. In Daniel’s first appearance on the show, he discusses the history of tax models, the threat that tariffs make to the US economy, where we currently stand with budget reconciliation, how he would fix the tax code if he was president, and much more.

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

Recorded on May 2nd, 2025

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Timestamps:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:01:01) – Daniel’s Background and the Tax Foundation

(00:03:35) – Tax Foundation’s Model

(00:7:38) – History of Tax Models

(00:14:26) – Fiscal Condition of the United States

(00:19:24) – Tariffs and Revenue

(00:35:55) – Budget Resolution

(00:45:43) – Daniel’s Proposed Solutions

(00:49:10) – Outro

Luca Fornaro is a senior researcher at CREI and professor at both UPF and the Barcelona School of Economics. In Luca’s first appearance on the show, he discusses his expansive work on, hysteresis, stagnation traps, endogenous growth, aggregate demand policies, the medium run, population growth and much more.

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

Recorded on April 23th, 2025

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Timestamps:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:00:51) – Luca’s Background

(00:03:19) – Hysteresis

(00:7:23) – Why Talk About Hysteresis Now?

(00:10:55) – Stagnation Trap

(00:16:07) – The Medium Run

(00:22:25) – Managing Expectations with Automatic Stabilizers

(00:28:48) – What About Population Growth?

(00:31:47) – The Empirical Side

(00:39:24) – Directing Capital Flows

(00:42:30) – The Scars of Supply Shocks

(00:48:57) – The Nominal GDP Targeting Solution

(00:51:28) – Fiscal Stagnation

(00:59:21) – Outro

Adam Ozimek is the Chief Economist at the Economic Innovation Group. Adam returns to the show to discuss the importance of reforming the high-skilled immigration process, the main bottlenecks with our current green card system, the glory days of economics blogging, how to revitalize the American heartland, Trump’s current trade war, and much more.

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

Recorded on April 15th, 2025

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Timestamps:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:00:50) – Blogging Days

(00:02:33) – How to Fix High-Skilled Immigration

(00:27:08) – Busting the Myths

(00:33:58) – Additional Parts of Adam’s Immigration Proposal

(00:40:13) – Trump’s Trade War

(00:58:25) – Outro

Skanda Amarnath is the executive director of Employ America. Skanda returns to the show to discuss the standing of Humphrey’s Executor, the prospects for the Fed’s Framework Review, the case for NGDP Targeting, and much more.

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

Recorded on April 16th, 2025

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Timestamps:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:02:01) – Humphrey’s Executor

(00:12:35) – The Fed’s Framework Review

(00:37:18) – Fed’s Communication

(00:47:36) – Productivity

(00:59:07) – Outro

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