Tyler Cowen on complacency, immobility, and stagnation

From David Beckworth’s podcast series, Macro Musings comes this audio of an interview with Tyler Cowen on complacency, immobility, and stagnation.

Tyler Cowen is a professor of economics at George Mason University as well as the general director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He joins the show to discuss his new book, *The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream.* Tyler argues that restlessness and willingness to take risks have been key traits throughout American history. However, in the last few decades, American society has become more risk-averse. While we may have become more comfortable with less risk-taking, this complacency has led to less innovation and dynamism in the economy. Such stasis is causing economic stagnation and other woes throughout the United States.

N. Gregory Mankiw: America's economy and the case for free markets

From Conversations with Bill Kristol comes this interview with N. Gregory Mankiw. Mankiw is the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University. The discussion is about the state of the American economy and why we need free markets.

Steve Hankie on hyperinflation

From David Beckworth’s podcast series, Macro Musings comes this audio of an interview with Steve Hankie on hyperinflation.

Steve Hanke is a professor of applied economics and co-director of the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He is also a senior fellow and director of the Troubled Currencies Project at the Cato Institute. Steve joins the show to discuss his work on the history of hyperinflations. David and Steve discuss what exactly constitutes hyperinflation as well as historical examples of hyperinflation from 1940s Hungary to present-day Venezuela.

Mark Koyama on the macroeconomics of ancient Rome

From David Beckworth’s new podcast series, Macro Musings comes this audio of an interview with Mark Koyama

Mark Koyama is an Assistant Professor of Economics at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. He joins the show to discuss his research on the economic history of ancient Rome from the rise of the Roman Republic to the transition to the Roman Empire to the Empire’s eventual fall.

Macro Musings podcast: George Selgin

From David Beckworth’s new podcast series, Macro Musings comes this audio of an interview with George Selgin.

My latest Macro Musings podcast is with George Selgin, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives. We discuss in depth Selgin's call for a a Productivity Norm, a nominal income target for central banks that would result in inflation moving inversely with expected productivity growth. That is, he would have central banks stabilize aggregate demand growth but allow more price level flexibility based on technological advances. Along the way we cover the difference between benign and malign deflation and look, examine some of the historical cases of deflation, and discuss the recent productivity surge of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

It was a great conversation with George. Those listeners wanting more information on his Productivity Norm target for central banks should check out the links below.

A more complete but readable discussion of the productivity norm idea is given in IEA's book "Less than Zero: the Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy" (pdf) by George Selgin