Podcasts about fiscal monetary policy

The inner workings of the Federal Reserve System are an enigma to most of us. But as the early months of 2020 unfolded with a massive public health crisis, huge drops in the stock market, and millions of jobs lost, the actions of the Federal Reserve were critical in preventing sudden economic disaster. Nick Timiraos, chief economics correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, took readers behind the scenes of the Federal Reserve in his new book, Trillion Dollar Triage. Through extensive research and interviews, he shared a behind-the-scenes look at what chair Jay Powell and his colleagues experienced as the stock market plummeted in early March of 2020. What followed was the largest, swiftest U.S. economic policy response since World War II. In April, the stock market had begun to rebound despite continued drops in the unemployment rate and the continued impacts of COVID-19. Timiraos dived into how Powell kept the economy on life support and faced the subsequent challenges of its recovery. Nick Timiraos is the chief economics correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, where he covers the Federal Reserve and U.S. economic policy. He joined the Journal in 2006 and previously wrote about the U.S. housing bust and the 2008 election. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and lives with his family in Washington, D.C. David Wessel is director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution with 30 years of experience as a reporter, editor, and columnist at The Wall Street Journal. He is a New York Times best-selling author and shares two Pulitzer Prizes, one for Boston Globe stories in 1983 on the persistence of racism in Boston, and the other for stories in The Wall Street Journal in 2002 on corporate wrong-doing. Buy the Book: Trillion-Dollar Triage: How Jay Powell and the Fed Battled a President and a Pandemic--and Prevented Economic Disaster (Hardcover) from Third Place Books  Presented by Town Hall Seattle. To become a member or make a donation click here. 

The Trump-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was passed in December of 2017; the tax code hadn't seen such a massive overhaul in over 30 years. Bobbing along in a sea of sweeping changes sits the unassuming, pleasant-sounding “Opportunity Zone”— a type of investment with the potential to spur economic growth and job creation in “economically-distressed” communities, rewarding investors in those communities with substantial tax breaks. But, as David Wessel explained in his new book, Only the Rich Can Play, the tax break has done much more to benefit the super-rich and done little to bolster low-income communities. How did this happen? How did Opportunity Zones quietly slip into the 2017 tax bill with little scrutiny? Wessel provided portraits of the consultants, political influencers, and proselytizers involved in bringing Opportunity Zones to fruition, starting with the silicon valley entrepreneur who developed and arranged for lobbying around the idea. And while Wessel does acknowledge that there are a few places where Opportunity Zones are supporting low-income communities, he argued that a better-designed program would have had a far more positive impact. What we're ultimately left with is a system that once again leaves out the many in favor of the few. David Wessel is director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution with 30 years of experience as a reporter, editor, and columnist at The Wall Street Journal. He is a New York Times best-selling author and shares two Pulitzer Prizes, one for Boston Globe stories in 1983 on the persistence of racism in Boston, and the other for stories in The Wall Street Journal in 2002 on corporate wrong-doing. Buy the Book: Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age (Hardcover) from Third Place Books Presented by Town Hall Seattle. To become a member or make a donation click here. 

The U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have crafted new monetary policy frameworks for an era in which interest rates are hovering close to zero. The Fed's flexible average inflation targeting approach aims at inflation that averages 2% over time; when inflation has been running persistently below that level, the Fed will aim for inflation moderately above 2% for some time. It also aims at a “broad-based and inclusive” definition of maximum employment. The ECB says its goal is inflation of 2% over the medium term, and it describes its commitment to this target as symmetric (meaning it would be equally concerned about below- and above-target inflation). Are these new frameworks well understood by markets, businesses, consumers, and politicians? Have the central banks communicated them well? How have these frameworks been implemented so far? Are they well-suited for the current economic environment? The Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at Brookings hosted a discussion of these issues by Richard Clarida, vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board; Philip Lane, member of the ECB's Executive Board; and Ben Bernanke, distinguished senior fellow at Brookings and former chair of the Federal Reserve. Following that discussion was a panel of Fed watchers—Julia Coronado of Macro Policy Perspectives; William Dudley, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and Tiffany Wilding of PIMCO.   Subscribe to Brookings Events on iTunes, send feedback email to events@brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. To learn more about upcoming events, visit our website. Brookings Events is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

On May 26 at the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy, Randal Quarles, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, discussed his outlook for the economy and its progress towards the Fed’s goals. https://www.brookings.edu/events/the-economic-outlook-a-conversation-with-the-feds-randal-quarles/ Subscribe to Brookings Events on iTunes, send feedback email to events@brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. To learn more about upcoming events, visit our website. Brookings Events is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy hosted an event to celebrate the release of “Global Goliaths.” It opened with an overview of the role of multinational corporations in the modern economy, followed by a panel discussion on the impact of multinationals on jobs: Do multinational corporations export jobs? Do they exploit workers? Do U.S. and European multinationals contribute to home country employment?  https://www.brookings.edu/events/global-goliaths-multinational-corporations-in-the-21st-century/ Subscribe to Brookings Events on iTunes, send feedback email to events@brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. To learn more about upcoming events, visit our website. Brookings Events is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

The Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at Brookings and the Peterson Institute for International Economics offered answers to unusually challenging economic circumstances: a persistent pandemic, an economy far short of full employment, and federal debt at historic highs. https://www.brookings.edu/events/fiscal-policy-advice-for-joe-biden-and-congress/ Subscribe to Brookings Events on iTunes, send feedback email to events@brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. To learn more about upcoming events, visit our website. Brookings Events is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

The Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at Brookings hosted Richard Clarida, vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, to talk about the latest developments in the economy and in monetary policy. https://www.brookings.edu/events/the-economy-and-monetary-policy-a-conversation-with-fed-vice-chair-richard-clarida/ Subscribe to Brookings Events on iTunes, send feedback email to events@brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. To learn more about upcoming events, visit our website. Brookings Events is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

David Wessel, senior fellow and director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at Brookings, discusses the key economic issues during the lead up to the 2020 election, and looks ahead to how the economy can recover after the COVID-19 pandemic. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

On September 1, the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy hosted Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard to talk about the outlook for the economy and monetary policy, as well as the Fed’s new framework.  Subscribe to Brookings Events on iTunes, send feedback email to events@brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. To learn more about upcoming events, visit our website. Brookings Events is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

The Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at Brookings held a virtual event on May 20 to highlight new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the ways they are collected, and what they show so far.   https://www.brookings.edu/events/webinar-taking-the-pulse-of-the-covid-19-economy-new-census-bureau-weekly-surveys/ Subscribe to Brookings Events on iTunes, send feedback email to events@brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. To learn more about upcoming events, visit our website. Brookings Events is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

To many Americans, the economy is mystery. Normal market trends and fiscal policy aside, though, the coronavirus pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge for understanding how the country might weather the storm of soaring unemployment and a near total halt to business as usual. That's where David Wessel,  director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, steps in, providing unique insight into what extremely low interest rates and climbing national debt mean for investors and individuals of all stripes. Plus, James presents an outline for how Joe Biden's campaign can springboard off of an existing network of talented creatives rather than build an entire movement from the ground up. 

On Tuesday, April 14, the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at Brookings convened a virtual panel to discuss the shape, scale, and economic rationale for the small business lending program; the administrative challenges it poses to lenders, small businesses, and government; and the possibility that it will prove to cost far more than the initial $349 billion allocation.  https://www.brookings.edu/events/government-lending-to-small-businesses-during-covid-19-why-how-and-will-it-work/ Subscribe to Brookings Events on iTunes, send feedback email to events@brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. To learn more about upcoming events, visit our website. Brookings Events is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

“Iran gets out of jail free. I mean, they’re out of the penalty box at this point," says Senior Fellow  in this podcast on Iran in a post-nuclear deal world. "The rest of the world will do business as usual with Iran. Iran will be welcomed to international fora. The ... stench of pariah-hood that had attached itself to Iran during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—both because of the nuclear escalation and because of Ahmadinejad’s proclivity for really provocative statements and reprehensible rhetoric on the Holocaust and other issues—that problem is now gone.” Maloney, the interim deputy director of Foreign Policy at Brookings, and a senior fellow in the , examines the impact of the nuclear deal on U.S.-Iran relations and on the Iranian people, discusses Iran’s place in the international community, and talks about her optimism for the future of Iran. “It’s a young, dynamic, incredibly well-positioned society for the future,” she says. “I think if I were to place a bet on the long-term democratic opportunities in the region, Iran is it. By a long shot.”  Also in this episode, Senior Fellow , director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy, delivers his regular "Wessel's Economic Update, this time on the distribution of student loan debt. Show Notes: The Brookings Essay:  Maloney's new book:  Brookings's  on Middle East Politics and Policy  by Robert Einhorn   Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to .

“We have successfully built up our defenses so that here, at home in the United States, we’re probably safer than we were a decade ago but abroad our terrorist enemy is more numerous, more barbaric, more dangerous than ever before,” says Senior Fellow  in this podcast. Riedel, director of the , and also a former CIA officer and senior policy official, identifies the catalysts of the global jihadist movement, discusses the rise of the Islamic State and its rivalry with al-Qaida, addresses the crisis in Yemen, and examines how the Obama administration can better deploy soft power tools. “A strategy that only uses the stick isn’t going to work,” he says. “We have to have a strategy that not only goes after the terrorists but also seeks to deal with the underlying issues that produce this wave of terrorism. That’s easy to say and very very hard to do.” Also in this episode, Senior Fellow , director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy, delivers his regular "Wessel's Economic Update." Show Notes: Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on , listen on , and send feedback email to . "22" by Taylor Swift, Max Martin, and Shellback (Big Machine Records, Republic Records)

“Two married parents are the best environment for kids, on average,” says  in this podcast about her new book, . Adding that “we all know single parents who are doing a great job,” Sawhill explains how her research and data show that gaps in education, family structure and parenting styles create unequal starts for American children in the aggregate. Seventy percent of all pregnancies to unmarried women under 30 are unplanned, she says, and today 40 percent of all children in American are born outside marriage. In the podcast, Sawhill, a senior fellow and co-director of the , talks about one of the central themes of the book, how to change “drifters” into “planners,” to “have people take responsibility and make explicit choices about when to have children, whether to have children, who to have children with, and not to treat it so casually.” Plus, in a new feature, Senior Fellow , director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy, offers his thoughts in "Wessel's Economic Update." And finally, introducing a new series of blog posts on the website that will focus on the upcoming midterm elections. The series will feature Brookings scholars discussing key policy issues in the election, and spotlights from academics on key senate races. Show Notes: • • • • • •  Send feedback and questions for podcast guests to .   * N.b.: In the podcast, Sawhill refers to the concept of "marriage-go-round" and cites Kathy Edin. The phrase "marriage-go-round" was originally used in sociologist Andrew Cherlin's book of the same name. The phenomenon has, however, also been referred to by Edin as the "family-go-round."