The New Monetary Economics

The Marginal Revolution Podcast

In this exploration of the "new monetary economics," Alex and Tyler revisit the ideas of thinkers like Fischer Black, Eugene Fama, and Robert Hall, whose bold views about the Fed and the money supply once seemed detached from reality but now increasingly describe the financial world we inhabit. They explore why traditional measures like the money supply are becoming obsolete, how crypto and stablecoins are reshaping monetary systems, and why AI might emerge as a major consumer—and creator—of cryptocurrencies. They also discuss the paradox of pegged currencies, the lessons of algorithmic stablecoin failures like Terra, and the surprising connections between fiscal and monetary policy in a world of increasingly liquid assets. Finally, they reflect on how the unconventional ideas of new monetary economics, once dismissed as fringe, are now critical for understanding our modern financial landscape.

Recorded March 14, 2024

Transcript, video, and links: https://www.mercatus.org/marginal-revolution-podcast/new-monetary-economics

Chapters

• 00:00 - Outlining the ideas of new monetary economics
• 09:03 - The difficulty of defining the money supply
• 17:36 - What determines the inflation rate?
• 22:32 - Crypto's role in validating new monetary economics
• 26:02 - The role of the Fed in a Modigliani-Miller world
• 32:09 - Stablecoins and the paradox of pegs
• 46:11 - The bottom line

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