Austan Goolsbee on Central Banking as a Data Dog | Conversations with Tyler

Описание: Austan Goolsbee is one of Tyler Cowen’s favorite economists—not because they always agree, but because Goolsbee embodies what it means to think like an economist. Whether he’s analyzing productivity slowdowns in the construction sector, exploring the impact of taxes on digital commerce, or poking holes in overconfident macro narratives, Goolsbee is consistently sharp, skeptical, and curious. A longtime professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School and former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama, Goolsbee now brings that intellectual discipline—and a healthy dose of humor—to his role as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Tyler and Austan explore what theoretical frameworks Goolsbee uses for understanding inflation, why he’s skeptical of monetary policy rules, whether post-pandemic inflation was mostly from the demand or supply side, the proliferation of stablecoins and shadow banking, housing prices and construction productivity, how microeconomic principles apply to managing a regional Fed bank, whether the structure of the Federal Reserve system should change, AI's role in banking supervision and economic forecasting, stablecoins and CBDCs, AI's productivity potential over the coming decades, his secret to beating Ted Cruz in college debates, and more.

Recorded March 3rd, 2025

Transcript and links: https://conversationswithtyler.com/ep...

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Timestamps
00:00:00 - On central banking as a data dog
00:07:50 - On whether post-pandemic inflation was mostly from demand or supply
00:18:24 - On housing and construction
00:25:43 - On reforming the Fed system
00:36:11 - On CBDCs
00:46:28 - On AI’s prospects for boosting productivity