S3E32: War, Welfare & Democracy - History of Public Debt
HbN guest: Dr. Barry Eichengreen
Author of: In Defense of Public Debt
About our guest: Dr. Eichengreen is the author of In Defense of Public Debt. He is the Chair and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley, where he has received many teaching awards and is also the recipient of other awards such as the 2010 Schumpeter Prize from the International Schumpeter Society and the 2022 recipient of the Nessim Habif Prize for Contributions to Science and Industry. He was named one of Foreign Policy Magazine's 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2011. He is a past president of the Economic History Association (2010-11).
In the news: Fitch Ratings downgraded our federal government's credit rating.
In this episode (Aug. 18, 2023):
- Why did monarchs and emperors borrow?
- From whom did they borrow and at what rates?
- What if monarchs defaulted?
- Why did European kingdoms and empires borrow more than their Asian counterparts?
- How did the emergence of parliaments and republics change borrowing? Easier? Better rates?
- How did democracy change borrowing? No. Not always more debt.
- Have democracies run surpluses? Amazingly, yes!
- How has the expansion of suffrage (the right to vote) changed the purposes and burden of public debt?
- When did markets for foreign debt flourish? When did they flounder?
S3E27: Recession? What Recesion!
HbN guest: Dr. Price Fishback
Author of: Government and the American Economy: A New History
About our guest: Dr. Fishback is an APS professor of economic governments at Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. a research affiliate at the Centre for Economic History at Australian National University, a CAGE Fellow at Warwick University, a program scholar for the Hoover Program on Regulation and the Rule of Law, a fellow at the TIAA-CREF Institute and a research associate at the NBER. He is the author of many books, including Government and the American Economy: A New History.
In the news: What happened to recession projections for 2023?
In this episode (Jul. 14, 2023):
- How do we define a recession?
- What's the biggest problem in calling a recession?
- In our history, we had recessions every 3-7 years.
- Recession in the 1970s and early the '80s.
- Is our modern history the longest without a recession? Well, there was the Great Recession of 2008. But Dr. Fishback explains this history here.
- Are recessions inevitable?
- Keynesians vs. monetarists views on recessions.
- Federal Reserve's role in preventing recessions.
S3E20: Who Is Janet Yellen? She Didn't Want This Job!
HbN guest: Mr. Jon Hilsenrath
Author of: Yellen, The Trailblazing Economist Who Navigated an Era of Upheaval.
About our guest: Mr. Hilsenrath is a senior correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Many of his reports have focused on the causes and consequences of economic and financial crises. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2014 for his coverage of the Federal Reserve; part of a WSJ team that was a Pulitzer finalist in 2009 for coverage of the financial crisis; and contributed on-the-ground reporting to the WSJ’s 9/11 coverage which won a Pulitzer in 2002. He is the author of Yellen, The Trailblazing Economist Who Navigated an Era of Upheaval.
In the news: As America's debt ceiling showdown nears its ultimate deadline, Sec. Yellen states emphatically that America has paid its bills on time since 1789!
In this episode (May 26, 2023):
- How Yellen was persuaded to join Pres. Biden's cabinet
- Yellen's role as Treasury Secretary is so different than her role as the Federal Reserve's Chair
- Her obsessive preparation and how that hinders her in the fast-paced world of politics.
- "These are f...ing people!" Yellen, as President of San Francisco's Fed
- Are economists arrogant?
- Inflation - the stain on her record.
- Yellen's husband - the Nobel laureate economist.
- How Ms. Yellen became the first in many high positions - a woman alone in a man's world!
S3E12: History of America's Bank Runs
HbN guest: Dr. Lawrence White
Author of: The Clash of Economic Ideas and The Theory of Monetary Institutions
About our guest: Dr. White is a professor of theory and history of banking and money in the Dept. of Economics at George Mason University. He has been a visiting lecturer at the Swiss National Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He is the author of many books, including The Clash of Economic Ideas and The Theory of Monetary Institutions.
In the news: Silicon Valley Bank & Signature Bank collapse.
In this episode (Mar. 31, 2023):
- What happened to SVB? Hint: almost always runs happen on banks that are insolvent.
- Savings and Loan (S&L) Crisis of the 1980s.
- Bank bailouts. Can you say moral hazard?
- Dodd-Frank Act's impact on banking.
- How banks were able to expand nationally and even internationally beginning in the 1980s.
- The story and role of the FDIC - you are not supposed to rescue an individual institution!
- What was it like before the FDIC? Lessons from a time when banks held large reserves.
- What is free banking? No. There wouldn't be any FDIC!
S3E9: History of Antitrust
HbN guest: Dr. Naomi Lamoreaux
Author of: The Great Merger Movement in American Business, 1895–1904
About our guest: Dr. Lamoreaux is a professor of Economics and History at Yale University's Department of Economics. She is also a Senior Research Scholar at the University of Michigan Law School. She has authored many books, including The Great Merger Movement in American Business, 1895–1904, and Corporations and American Democracy.
In the news: Pres. Biden's DOJ and FTC are taking aggressive stances on antitrust.
In this episode (Mar. 3, 2023):
- In antitrust, where does the term "trust" come from?
- Different forms of monopoly - Vanderbilt and Rockefeller
- Price fixing as per se antitrust violation.
- Is the bigness of a company in and of itself some sort of antitrust violation?
- What is the rule of reason?
- Why didn't Eastern states enforce antitrust laws aggressively?
- Why was Texas such an aggressive enforcer of antitrust laws?
- what is the New Brandeis antitrust movement?
- FTC Chair Lina Khan's antitrust policies.
- Is breaking up big companies a good thing? Hint: Imagine breaking up Facebook.
S2E32: History of Housing Booms & Busts, And High Mortgages
HbN guest: Dr. Price Fishback
Author of: Well Worth Saving: How the New Deal Safeguarded Home Ownership
About our guest: Dr. Fishback is an APS professor of economics at Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. He is also a research affiliate at the Centre for Economic History at Australian National University, a CAGE Fellow at Warwick University, a program scholar for the Hoover Program on Regulation and the Rule of Law, a fellow at the TIAA-CREF Institute, and a research associate at the NBER. He has authored many books, including Well Worth Saving: How the New Deal Safeguarded Home Ownership.
In the news: As the Fed increases interest rates, home prices begin suffering -
it's the first monthly decline in years.
In this episode (Sep. 30, 2022):
- The only year before 2006 that housing prices fell on average was 1972, before the Case-Schiller index came out.
- How Americans borrowed to buy homes before the mortgage industry.
- When and why national banks were not allowed to make real estate loans.
- How interest rates used to vary widely across the country.
- Historically, the U.S. government was like a real estate agent. But that changed after the Homestead Act of 1862.
- In 1968, the U.S. government was explicit that Fannie Mae was not a government corp. But with pressure to provide benefits to people at he low end of the income distribution, our government began dabbling into real estate via the mortgage industry.
- How HOLC's impact on housing segregation is misunderstood.
S2E26: Strength of the U.S. Dollar
HbN guest: Dr. Barry Eichengreen
Author of: Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System
About our guest: Dr. Eichengreen is the Chair and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley. He is the recipient of the 2010 Schumpeter Prize from the International Schumpeter Society and the 2022 recipient of the Nessim Habif Prize for Contributions to Science and Industry. He was named one of Foreign Policy Magazine's 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2011 and is a past president of the Economic History Association (2010-11). Dr. Eichengreen has authored many books, including Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System.
In the news: the U.S. dollar's sudden strengthening against world currencies.
In this episode (Aug. 19, 2022):
- Why did the U.S. dollar fluctuate so much recently?
- The Federal Reserve's role in dollar's value - a detailed discussion.
- What are "uncovered interest parity" and "the overshooting phenomenon"?
- Why is it an embarrassment when the Euro falls to parity against the U.S. dollar?
- The original sin - nations borrowing in dollars.
- The Dollar's double whammy on developing markets.
- How the French wanted to displace the U.S. dollar.
- The U.S. Treasury Secretary: " The dollar is our currency, but it’s your problem.”
- The Dollar during and after the Civil War.
S2E23: History of Labor Unions
HbN guest: Dr. Kate Bronfenbrenner, Cornell University
Author of: Blueprint for Change: A National Assessment of Winning Union Organizing Strategies.
About our guest: Dr. Bronfenbrenner is the Director of Labor Education Research at ILR School, the Industrial and Labor Relations School of Cornell University. She is also a Senior Lecturer at the ILR School and the Co-Director of the Worker Empowerment Research Project. She is the co-author and editor of many books on union and employer strategies, and she has testified as an expert witness at Labor Department and Congressional hearings and is frequently quoted in the major news media.
In the news: Labor strikes at Amazon, Starbucks, Trader Joe's
In this episode (Jun. 17, 2022):
- When was the golden era of labor unions? Well, it depends on the industry and the type of worker.
- The majority of people organizing today are immigrants and women of color.
- How for the longest time, unions didn't organize and recruit.
- The largest unions now are service workers - e.g., healthcare providers and teachers.
- Corporate threats - if you organize, we'll shift business overseas.
S2E12: Experiments with Paper and Digital Dollars
HbN guest: Dr. Barry Eichengreen
Author of: Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System.
In the news: President Biden issues a crypto executive order, "Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets"
About our guest: Dr. Eichengreen is the Chair and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley. He is the recipient of the 2010 Schumpeter Prize from the International Schumpeter Society and the 2022 recipient of the Nessim Habif Prize for Contributions to Science and Industry. He was named one of Foreign Policy Magazine's 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2011 and is a past president of the Economic History Association (2010-11). Dr. Eichengreen has authored many books, including Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System.
In the news: President Biden issues a crypto executive order, "Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets"
In this episode (Mar. 25, 2022):
- Different types of digital currency with varying risk levels.
- A U.S. digital dollar?
- What are Bitcoins from a volcano? No joke. Just ask El Slavador's president.
- How Americans carried directories with them to see how much their money was worth at different banks.
- Will the role and power of the U.S. dollar shrink as other countries develop digital currency?
- Currency geopolitics - Iran and China.
- Benefits of digital currency - traceability.
- Will a digital currency cause more bank runs?
S2E11: Inflation's History
HbN guest: Dr. Lawrene White
Author of: Better Money, Fiat, Gold or Bitcoin
About our guest: Dr. White is a professor of theory and history of banking and money in the Dept. of Economics at George Mason University. He has been a visiting lecturer at the Swiss National Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He is the author of many books, including Better Money, Fiat, Gold or Bitcoin.
In the news: Inflation is increasing. And Pres. Biden in his State of the Union Address: "I think I have a better idea to fight inflation: Lower your costs, not your wages."
In this episode (Mar. 18, 2022), we uncover the history behind:
- How inflation works - the Christmas tree analogy.
- Comparing 2022 inflation with the 1970s - 15% home mortgage rates.
- How did inflation rise to 20% after WWI?
- Historically, has inflation been an issue of the supply chain or the supply of money?
- What was inflation like when America was on the gold standard?
- Monetary policy versus fiscal policy.
- Do events cause inflation or do our government's responses that cause inflation?
- Is fiat money terrible for inflation?
- Did Nixon's price controls tame inflation?
- The Fed's mistakes during the Great Depression.
S2E10: America's Entitlement Programs
HbN guest: Dr. John Cogan
Author of: The High Cost of Good Intentions: A History of U.S. Federal Entitlement Programs
About our guest: Dr. Cogan is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor of the Public Policy Program at Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. He is the author of The High Cost of Good Intentions: A History of U.S. Federal Entitlement Programs.
In the news: 373 economists, including a Nobel laureate, and heads of U.S. economic institutions such as former Fed members and professors from prestigious universities, denounce Pres. Biden's Build Back Better agenda.
In this episode (Mar. 11, 2022):
- When did America's entitlement programs start?
- How entitlement programs' definitions, scope and stigma have evolved.
- How entitlement programs expanded to include Americans who have never performed any services for the U.S. government.
- John Quincy Adams: Soldiers of the Revolutionary Live Forever. His friend retorted: Revolutionary War soldiers multiply with time!
- Why was Civil War pension still being paid out in 2020?
- What is the equally worthy claim? People that are just outside the boundary line - expanding circle!
- Nixon and Johnson - both expanded entitlement programs.
- What does it mean that Entitlement programs are permanently appropriated?
S2E2: History of America's Student Loans
HbN guest: Dr. Elizabeth T. Shermer
Author of: Indentured Students: How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt
About our guest: Dr. Shermer is an associate professor in the Department of History at Loyola University Chicago. She has written extensively on twentieth-century U.S. political and urban history, and her most recent book is Indentured Students: How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt.
In the news: To forgive or not forgive, $1.73B of student loans?
In this episode (Jan. 14, 2022):
- Complaints about the burden of student debts began back in the 1950s.
- The first federal loan program was in 1957, originally designed for 10 years.
- Initially, banks were not interested in student loans at all - where is the collateral?
- An infliction point was when America decided to design its student loan program as a financial product, rather than direct investments in the education system.
- The University of California still calls itself tuition-free!
- Comparing U.S. student loan programs to European counterparts.
Infrastructure
S3E10: History of a Superpower's Power Infrastructure
HbN guest: Dr. Julie Cohn
Author of: The Grid: Biography of an American Technology
About our guest: Dr. Cohn is a Nonresident Scholar at the Center for Energy Studies at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, and also a research historian in the Center for Public History at the University of Houston. She is the author of The Grid: Biography of an American Technology.
In the news: 85,000 in California, 300,000 in Texas, and 800,000 in Michigan are without power. Power outages were also reported in Illinois, New York, Oregon and Wisconsin.
In this episode (Mar. 10, 2022):
- After WWII, Americans assumed electric power would always be there, and they were terribly shocked at the first widespread power failure.
- President Johnson in Texas during one of the largest power failures.
- Largest power failure in 2003.
- Reasons why power outages become widespread cascading failures.
- The battle for the electric grid - Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse and Nicola Tesla.
- The number of power grids in the U.S.
- Why does Texas have its own power grid?
S2E40: History of Petroleum
HbN guest: Prof. Jacqueline L. Weaver
Author of: International Petroleum Transactions
About our guest: Ms. Weaver is a professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center. Her teaching and research interests cover oil and gas law, energy law and policy, international petroleum, and environmental and natural resources law. She has lectured on topics in international petroleum transactions in Africa, Kazakhstan, Lisbon, China and Bangkok. She is a co-author of Smith and Weaver, The Texas Law of Oil and Gas;
and a national casebook titled Energy, Economics and the Environment; as well as another casebook titled International Petroleum Transactions and the treatise International Petroleum Exploration & Exploitation Agreement.
In the news: Prices at the pump got pared back just in time for Thanksgiving, after having hovered at their highest levels in decades.
In this episode (Dec. 2, 2022):
- Discovery of oil in 1859.
- How Europe desperately wanted America's oil - but no one was willing to ship it there.
- Why do we call it barrels of oil today? Because oil was originally stored in whisky barrels.
- Although the U.S. is the largest refinery in the world, our refineries are not set up to refine U.S. oil.
- What was the impetus for forming the OPEC? This is an amazing story of sheer American arrogance.
- The very first year that Texas reached 100% of its production capacity, was the very first year that OPEC could have real power.
- How daisy chain of oil contracts supplanted long-term contracts.
S2E30: America's Flood Infrastructure
HbN guest: Prof. Robert Verchick
Author of: Octopus in the Parking Garage: Beyond Carbon Toward Climate
About our guest: Prof. Verchick is the Chair of Environmental Law at Loyola University New Orleans, a Senior Fellow in Disaster Resilience at Tulane University, and President of the Center for Progressive Reform. He served in the Obama administration as Deputy Associate Administrator for Policy at the EPA. He has testified before Congress many times. He is the author of Octopus in the Parking Garage: Beyond Carbon Toward Climate.
In the news: July and August floods devastate the U.S. and other countries. Yellowstone flooded.
In this episode (Sept. 16, 2022):
- Most devastating floods in U.S. history.
- How more than 10,000 U.S. dams are at the breaking point.
- How European settlers in New Orleans used natural ridges to limit flood damage.
- Why Americans live in flood zones.
- Difference between inland and coastal floods.
- How U.S. and local governments exacerbated flooding and their impacts.
- The racial disparity of flooding devastation.
- How to incorporate nature into our flood control plans. Stories from Louisiana.
S1E36: How Supply Chain Works
HbN guest: Dr. Yossi Sheffi
Author of: A Shot in the Arm: How Science, Engineering, and Supply Chains Converged to Vaccinate the World
About our guest: Dr. Sheffi is the Director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and also the Director of the MIT Supply Chain Management Program. He has written many books on this subject, including the following The New (Ab)Normal: Reshaping Business and Supply Chain Strategy Beyond Covid-19, and A Shot in the Arm: How Science, Engineering, and Supply Chains Converged to Vaccinate the World.
In the news: COVID-19 Supply China Crisis
In this episode (Oct. 22, 2021):
- Supply networks is a more appropriate term than supply chain.
- What is the second-order effect?
- Why will get worse before it gets better?
- How can the government fix the supply chain crisis?
- Fed Chairman Powell: "It's easy to increase demand. I never thought of the supply side."
- Ships full of supplies waiting outside Los Angeles harbor.
- Vaccine supply chain and supply chain for clinical studies.
- What's the weakest link in our modern supply network?
- History of shipping containers.
- Mexico's opportunity in America's supply chain crisis.
S1E33: History of America's Roads, Dams and Bridges
HbN guest: Dr. Henry Petroski
Author of: The Road Taken: The History and Future of America's Infrastructure
About our guest: Dr. Petroski is a professional engineer who is registered in Texas, and a chartered engineer registered in Ireland. At Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, he was responsible for R&D efforts in fracture mechanics. From 2004 through 2012 he held a Presidential appointment as a member of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Dr. Petroski is also a professor of history at Duke University.
In the news: Pres. Biden's $1.2T infrastructure bill stuck in the House of Representatives.
In this episode (Oct. 1, 2021):
- The history of infrastructure starts with the military.
- The British government and private enterprises developed infrastructure for efficient comment and to support the economy.
- In its early days, the automobile was an environmentally friendly alternative to the horse and buggy.
- What happened to America's infrastructure after the British left?
- It’s not “success that breeds success”. It’s “failure that breeds success”.
- British wrote much about infrastructure. Americans didn't start writing about it till the 1980s.
- A 100 years ago they considered building a bridge across the Atlantic doable!
- Infrastructure funding.
- Eisenhower and America's politics.
- What's the highway trust fund?
- Corruption and pork barrel politics.