Barry Eichengreen is well known author, economist, and economic historian from the University of California, Berkeley. In Barry's first appearance on the show he discusses a career in untangling the world's monetary history, the origins of his new book Money Beyond Borders: Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto, the first uses on currencies in the 7th Century BC, the unexpected start of the dollar, how we landed on the central bank model, the dollar's rise to global reserve currency, which if any currencies as poised to take on the dollar, and much more.

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Recorded on May 27th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:17 - Barry's Books

00:10:14 - Money Beyond Borders

00:17:17 - Lydia and Greece

00:20:46 - Renaissance of Credits

00:23:36 - Spanish Silver

00:28:26 - The Emergence of Central Banks

00:38:11 - British Empire vs. Roman Empire

00:43:34 - Dollar as One of the Dominant Reserve Currencies

00:56:29 - Outro

Yesha Yadav is a professor of law, the Milton R. Underwood Chair, the Associate Dean & Robert Belton Director of Culture & Community, and the Co-Faculty Director, Master of Laws (LL.M) Program at the Vanderbilt University Law School. Chris Odinet is a professor of law, Mosbacher Research Fellow, and Affiliate Professor of Finance at Texas A&M University School of Law. Andrea Tosato is professor of law at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. Yesha, Chris, and Andrea join the show to discuss their avenues into stablecoin regulation, their four-part definition of moneyness (nature of the claim, safety, discharge capacity, and negotiability), how Tether and Circle stack up to these definitions, the stablecoin bankruptcy conundrum, the progress the GENIUS Act made on closing legal loopholes, their prescriptions for policymakers, and much more.

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Recorded on May 20th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:26 - Career Backgrounds of Chris, Yesha, and Andrea

00:02:35 - Background on the Paper

00:06:52 - Structure of Money

00:17:33 - Moneyness: Nature of the Claim

00:22:37 - Moneyness: Safety

00:23:45 - Moneyness: Discharge Capacity

00:30:50 - Moneyness: Negotiability

00:31:55 - How Stablecoins Currently Hold Up in Moneyness

00:58:18 - Recommendations to Policymakers

01:10:51 - Outro

Jeffrey Lacker is the former president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank and is a senior affiliated scholar at the Mercatus Center. Jeff returns to the show to discuss the history of the Fed Treasury Accord, the state of fiscal dominance, his five proposals for a new Fed Treasury Accord, his calls for reform around the discount window, a memorial to his friend and colleague Charlie Plosser, and much more.

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Recorded on May 20th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:56 - Fed Treasury Accord

00:18:26 - Fiscal Dominance

00:22:05 - Jeff's Five Proposals

00:49:05 - Charlie Plosser

00:55:49 - Outro

Nik Bhatia is an author of two economics books, a visiting fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and the founder of The Bitcoin Layer. In Nik's first appearance on the podcast, he discusses his niche in the Bitcoin community, the role of Bitcoin as a transaction asset, the threat or lack thereof of quantum computing on Bitcoin, his issues with the current eurodollar market, his new proposal to use stablecoins as statecraft, and much more.

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Recorded on May 5th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:49 - Nik's Career and Background

00:12:32 - Crypto Assets for Transactions

00:18:28 - Quantum Computing and Bitcoin

00:24:08 - Stablecoins as Statecraft

00:58:36 - Outro

Bryan Cutsinger is an assistant professor of economics at the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University. Peter Ireland is a professor of Economics at Boston College. Will Luther is an associate professor of economics at the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University and is the director of the American Institute for Economic Research's Sound Money Project. Bryan, Peter, and Will return to the show to discuss the big takeaways from the 2025 Fed framework review, the flip flopping of FIT to FAIT back to FIT, the biggest lessons from the 2020 Fed framework review, the case for NGDP targeting at the Fed, hope for future reviews, and much more.

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Recorded on May 6th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:51 - Origins of Bryan, Will, and Peter's Paper

00:03:40 - Big Takeaways

00:06:14 - The Fed's 2020 Framework Review

00:12:43 - Lessons Learned from 2020 Review

00:14:38 - Nominal GDP Targeting and Productivity Shocks

00:26:59 - Reviewing the Fed's 2025 Framework Review

00:57:20 - Hopes for the Future

01:03:06 - Outro

Brendan Greeley is a veteran journalist from the Financial Times and current PhD student at Princeton studying monetary history. In Brendan's first appearance on the show, he discusses why he went for a PhD after being a journalist for 20 years, why the dollar's history goes far beyond America's founding, when America actually achieved a currency union, the untold origins of the dollar, how Herbert and Lou Hoover's date nights played a role in the history of the dollar, the crucial importance of Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz in understanding the dollar's history, the happy accident of Eurodollars, what the future of dollars looks like, and much more.

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Recorded on May 4th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:12 - Brendan's Career

00:06:27 - How Old Is the Dollar?

00:25:24 - Where Did the Dollar Start?

00:38:11 - The Modern Dollar

00:57:08 - Future of the Dollar

01:01:59 - Outro

David Zaring is legal scholar and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. In David's first appearance on the show, he discusses the role the Great Financial Crisis played in FinReg scholarship, how he came up with the term "skinny" in the new skinny Fed master accounts, the tumultuous road of Custodia vs. the Fed, a reimagined way to look at federal bank charters, whether commerce and banking are actually still separate, Fed independence and how it functions in a more corporatist model, and much more.

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Recorded on April 24th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:04 - The Great Financial Crisis and FinReg Scholarship

00:04:58 - David's Experience with Fintech Charter Litigation

00:17:18 - Skinny Charters

00:37:16 - How to Govern the Fed

00:55:10 - Outro

Bill Beach is the former commissioner of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the current executive director of the Fiscal Lab on Capitol Hill. In Bill's first appearance on the show he discusses a career in and around public service, the important niche his new organization fills, the frightening fiscal outlook of the United States, exactly how long we have before Social Security runs out, why he believes it will take lots of small changes instead of a big one to fix our fiscal outlook, the important role of the BLS, why our statistical methods needs reform, the most underrated economic statistical indicators, and much more.

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

Recorded on April 15th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:25 - Bill's Career

00:10:11 - Fiscal Lab on Capitol Hill

00:17:23 - Fiscal Challenges of the United States

00:30:05 - Surveys from Bureau of Labor Statistics

00:43:12 - Challenges to Survey Work

00:52:13 - Outro