Bill Nelson is a chief research officer and chief economist at the Bank Policy Institute. In Bill's 10th appearance on the show he discusses his infamous email list, the ratchet effect from QE, his congressional testimony, the BPI's Bank Treasurers Survey, how he thinks the Fed should shrink the balance sheet, whether the Fed is profitable, and much more.

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Recorded on March 3rd, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:00 - Quantitative Easing Ratchet Effect

00:16:31 - Bill's Congressional Testimony

00:31:12 - BPI's Bank Treasurers Survey

00:37:37 - How To Shrink the Balance Sheet

00:48:44 - The Fed's Profits

00:54:50 - Outro

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Neha Narula is the director of the Digital Currency Initiative which is based out of the Media Lab at MIT. Anders Brownworth is veteran software engineer in the crypto space and is a Senior Research Advisor at DCI. Daniel Aronoff is Research Affiliate in the MIT Department of Economics and a Collaborator at DCI. Neha, Anders, and Daniel join the show to discuss their work at DCI, the current state of stablecoins, their paper on the hidden plumbing of stablecoins, the basic mechanics of stablecoins, the technical and operational risks of stablecoins, the implications for the treasury market, interoperability between blockchains, and much more.

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

Recorded on February 27th, 2026

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Follow Anders Brownworth on X: @Anders94

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:41 - Background of the Group

00:03:11 - Digital Currency Initiative

00:05:36 - State of Stablecoins

00:10:42 - Hidden Plumbing of Stablecoins

00:15:42 - Basic Mechanics of Stablecoins

00:26:07 - Technical and Operational Risks of Stablecoins

00:39:09 - Implications for the Treasury Market

00:48:18 - Business Model of Stablecoins

00:49:24 - Interoperability Between Blockchains

00:52:53 - What's the Deal with Tether?

00:56:23 - Outro

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Jesús Fernández-Villaverde is a professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Jesús returns to the show to discuss his rise on X, how to frame global demographic decline, the three accelerants of demographic decline, the role of housing in family size, how AI will play a role in global demographics, what we know about AGI, the question of dollar dominance, and much more.

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

Recorded on February 20th, 2026

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Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth

Follow Jesús Fernández-Villaverde on X: @JesusFerna7026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:07:22 - Demographics

00:39:28 - Artificial Intelligence

00:54:07 - Currency Dominance

01:03:20 - Outro