Kris Mitchener is a professor of economics at Santa Clara University and is an economic and monetary historian. In Kris's first appearance on the show, he discusses how he fell in love with building data sets out of old dusty archives, the origins and fall of bimetallism, the pros and cons of the gold standard, the problem of operating losses on the Fed's balance sheet, what truly anchors the price level, and much more.

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

Recorded on March 4th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:33 - Kris' Career Path

00:06:32 - What Is Bimetallism?

00:14:41 - The Gold Standard

00:28:55 - Disinflation Policies and Central Bank Finances

00:49:25 - What Anchors the Price Level

00:55:22 - Outro

Steve Kamin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and was previously the director of the Division of International Finance at the Federal Reserve Board. Mark Sobel is the US chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum and is a veteran of the US Department of Treasury. Steve and Mark return to the show to discuss the status of dollar dominance, the future threats to dollar dominance, the role or lack thereof that stablecoins will play in dollar dominance, the new findings in the Treasury Foreign Exchange Report, the current state of tariffs, whether we are in a second China shock, and much more.

Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel!

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

Recorded on March 5th, 2026

Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus

Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth

Follow Steve Kamin on X: @Steven_Kamin

Follow Mark Sobel on X: @Sobel_Mark

Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:26 - Termites Eating Away at Dollar Dominance

00:16:52 - Future Threats to Dollar Dominance

00:19:47 - Stablecoins and Dollar Dominance

00:33:40 - Treasury Foreign Exchange Report

00:44:28 - Tariff Policy

00:53:25 - Second China Shock?

01:00:38 - Outro

Ruth Judson is a monetary economist, economic historian, and veteran of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. In Ruth's first appearance on the show she discusses her career at the Fed, field trips tracking counterfeit dollars around the global, how we know how much currency is held overseas, why money doesn't matter anymore, the problem with cashless societies, how to understand TIC data, the promise of dollar backed stablecoins, and much more.

Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel!

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

Recorded on March 4th, 2026

Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus

Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth

Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings

Check out our Macro Musings merch!

Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:13 - Ruth at the Fed

00:08:09 - Currency

00:31:29 - Counterfeits

00:39:00 - TIC Data and Safe Assets

00:44:18 - Dollar-Based Stablecoins

00:49:55 - Outro