Economics Matters with Laurence Kotlikoff

John Campbell has made major contributions to the fields of macroeconomics and finance, solved a number of critical problems in both fields, and received all manner of fully deserved top awards in economics and finance. Grab a copy of his outstanding new, co-authored book, Fixed. It will turn your stomach, but keep you safe from Wall Street's terrible financial predation.  He is the Morton L. and Carole S. Olshan Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1994.Campbell delivered the Ely Lecture to the American Economic Association in 2016 and served as President of the American Finance Association in 2005. He is a Research Associate and former Director of the Program in Asset Pricing at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and holds honorary doctorates from BI Norwegian Business School, the University of Maastricht, the University of Paris Dauphine, and Copenhagen Business School. Campbell co-founded and serves on the board of Arrowstreet Capital, LP, a Boston-based quantitative asset management company. 

World-Renowned, Fantastic Economist, and Former CEA Chair, Gregory Mankiw, Discusses his Career, the Iraq War, Trump Policy and Advisers, and His Top Research HitsGreg may be the world's most influential economist as millions of students, in the US and abroad, have studied introductory economics and intermediate macroeconomics using his leading text books. He's also been a major US policy player, including serving as Chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisers under Present George W. Bush. But Greg's greatest contributions have been to macroeconomics. One of his early hits explains that the relatively small costs of individual firms adjusting their prices can lead to slow micro adjustment and remarkably major macroeconomic problems, including exacerbating business cycles.  A second major contribution concerns the degree to which households are cash-flow constrained and, as a result, make the economy far more volatile. A third article tests and partially rejects the Solow Model, a central model of national saving. A fourth shows, paradoxically, that competition in the face of monopoly can be inefficient.  A fifth helps explain stock market volatility. A sixth helps understand the dynamics of inflation and unemployment based on slow acquisition of information of price setters. Greg describes these contributions as part of our wide ranging, fascinating conversation.  Gregory Mankiw's BioN. Gregory Mankiw is the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University. As a student, Greg studied economics at Princeton University and MIT. As a teacher, he has taught macroeconomics, microeconomics, statistics, and principles of economics. Professor Mankiw is a prolific writer and a regular participant in academic and policy debates. His research includes work on price adjustment, consumer behavior, financial markets, monetary and fiscal policy, and economic growth. His published articles have appeared in academic journals, such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics, and in more widely accessible forums, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.He has written two popular textbooks—the intermediate-level textbook Macroeconomics (Worth Publishers) and the introductory textbook Principles of Economics (Cengage Learning). Principles of Economics has sold over four million copies and has been translated into twenty languages. In addition to his teaching, research, and writing, Professor Mankiw has been a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, an adviser to the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and New York, and a member of the ETS test development committee for the advanced placement exam in economics. From 2003 to 2005 he served as Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Disclaimer --  Any opinions expressed Economics Matters' posts are those of the authors and guests. These are not the opinions of Boston University or Economic Security Planning, Inc. 

Glenn is an absolutely brilliant economist and a public intellectual extraordinaire. In addition, Glenn is the pioneer of podcasting by academic economists. Glenn's remarkable podcast -- The Glenn Show -- debuted in 2008. In this episode of Economics Matters -- the Podcast, I ask Glenn to talk about the Glenn Show, including the topics and guests he's had during the show's now almost two-decade run. But as you'll hear/see, Glenn also uses this occasion to vigorously convey his long-held positions on race relations and the path to improving them. In particular, he makes a very strong case that Black America cannot expect White America to improve its position in society. As Glenn puts it, "No one is coming to the rescue." This is a marvelous podcast from a person who has dedicated a major part of his life to providing a national, politically incorrect conversation on issues of pressing concern, no matter their sensitivity. Glenn's Short Bio:Glenn C. Loury, Merton P. Stoltz Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences, Professor Emeritus of Economics, and Professor Emeritus of International and Public Affairs, is an academic economist who has made scholarly contributions to the fields of welfare economics, income distribution, game theory, industrial organization, and natural resource economics. He is also a prominent social critic and public intellectual, having published over 200 articles in journals of public affairs in the U.S. and abroad on the issues of racial inequality and social policy. A Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a past Vice President of the American Economics Association, Prof. Loury has been a visiting scholar at Oxford, Tel Aviv University, the University of Stockholm, the Delhi School of Economics, the Institute for the Human Sciences in Vienna, and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and was for many years a contributing editor at The New Republic magazine.The Glenn Show is a podcast and video series hosted by economist Glenn Loury, a professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.  Glenn, a self-described Black conservative, provides heterodox perspectives critiquing both progressive and conservative extremes. The show is rated right-center biased but high in credibility for its analysis grounded in real eventsIt features in-depth conversations with guests from academia, journalism, and public affairs, focusing on race, inequality, economics, politics, and social issues. Episodes often include regular discussions with linguist John McWhorter on race and politics, alongside solo commentary and live Q&A sessions. Recent topics have covered U.S. foreign policy, identity politics, free speech, and events like ICE incidents or Epstein files. The show is available on Substack (glennloury.substack.com), Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Bloggingheads.tv, with weekly updates and paid subscriber exclusives like early episodes and bonus content. It originated on Bloggingheads and continues through Loury's independent platform.

Martin Wolf is Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, London. He was awarded Commander of the British Empire in 2000 "for services to financial journalism". This is Martin's third appearance on Economics Matters -- the Podcast. Martin's 2023 book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, warned that liberal democracy was in recession, with authoritarianism on the rise. Two years later his dark vision has become America's reality. In this riveting interview, Martin spells out just how quickly our Shining City on the Hill is becoming a dark and foreboding dungeon with our great leader closely following the footsteps of history's megalomaniacs. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from the world's best informed and impressively clairvoyant global and political economist.  Martin is simply brilliant in both the British and American meanings of that word. 

Are we about to have another financial meltdown or at least a major crash? Is this the time to get liquid and stay poised to buy low rather than lose high? Please let one of the world's top financial guru's, John Rutledge, provide his deeply informed sense of the current financial system. John focuses on times the economy is out of wack -- far from equilibrium is his language.  He is Chief Investment Strategist and a member of the Investment Committee at Safanad, a global principal investment firm in New York, London, and Dubai. He is Economics Contributor for CNBC, and Senior Research Fellow at Claremont Graduate University where he teaches and chairs dissertations in the economics and finance PhD program. He sits on a number of boards of directors for public and private companies.John's Extraordinary ResumeOne of the architects of the Reagan Economic plan and has advised the Bush administration on both tax policy and the reconstruction of Iraq. Honorary Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is Chairman of Tara’s Kids, a non-profit organization that builds libraries for schools in remote villages in China and Tibet. After tours of duty in both academics and government policy, he has started, run, chaired, owned and harvested dozens of companies, and has managed money in marketable securities, private equity, and real estate.Too many more accolades to list...

President Trump's interest is largely self interest. According to The NY Times, he has personally pocketed $1.4 billion over the past 12 months. While not stuffing his pockets and those of his family, he has transformed our "shining city upon a hill" into a quasi-fascist state, sold out our allies, upended the rule of law, deployed a private army that murders American citizens in broad daylight, orchestrated political witch hunts, and abrogated our civil liberties, including, of late, the right to bear arms. Whether we'll have a fair and free election in November is anyone's guess. How much of Trump's behavior is dictated by Putin, an inner demon, mental illness, or avarice, no one can say. But the world no longer respects America. It fears and despises America. And it is realigning away from America at a rapid rate. I've invited Anders Åslund back to Economics Matters -- the Podcast to assess the damage, and its perilous implications. Per Anders Åslund is a Swedish economist and former Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He is also a chairman of the International Advisory Council at the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE). His work focuses on economic transition from centrally planned to market economies. Åslund served as an economic adviser to the governments of Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine and from 2003 was director of the Russian and Eurasian Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Åslund was an advocate of early, comprehensive, and radical economic reforms in Russia and Eastern Europe.[1] He worked at the Peterson Institute for International Economics from 2006 to 2015. In 2013, neoconservative David Frum wrote that "Anders Aslund at the Peterson Institute is one of the world's leading experts on the collapse of the planned Soviet economy." From 2010 to 2013 and again in 2022 he contributed to The Moscow Times, an independent English-language newspaper; he is also a long-time contributor to the Kyiv Post.[3]

Paulo Nogueira Batista is one of Brazil’s most prominent, influential, and instrumental economists. Paulo was vice president of the New Development Bank, established by the BRICS in Shanghai, from 2015 to 2017, and Executive Director at the IMF for Brazil and 10 other countries in Washington, from 2007 through 2015.  Paulo, as you'll hear/see, and as his bio clearly documents, is a sober, sophisticated, accomplished global intellectual, actor, and statesman -- someone who thinks deeply and carefully before he speaks. Hence, when he pens a column entitled, "Brazil is Running an Existential Risk," which I reposted in Economics Matters last week, about Brazil's need to obtain nuclear weapons, it's time to sit up and listen.  Take a read of Paulo's column and ponder the meaning of his quote of Clemenceau, “The United States is the first to pass from barbarism to decadence without knowing civilization.” Then watch/listen to this extraordinary podcast. 

Ciff Winston is back on Economics Matters. He's also just out with an impressive new book -- Market Corrections NotGovernment Interventions: A Path to Improve the US Economy. The book is a devastating critique of government policy failures -- policies that the private sector had to ultimately overcome or sidestep. Cliff joins us precisely one year after our podcast on Biden's infrastructure bill, which was passed with great fanfare, but started slow and then ran into Trump executive orders or disorders, depending on your perspective. This is an extraordinary, evidenced-based exposé of the market’s innovative power to creatively destroy market failures, including those engineered and entrenched by both ‘regulators’ and ‘reformists.’ This is surely the most important government policy book yet written.Here's the skinny on Cliff.   Clifford Winston, a nonresident senior fellow in the Brookings Institution’s Economic Studies program, has been with Brookings since 1984. Winston has also been co-editor of the annual microeconomics edition of Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Prior to his fellowship at Brookings, he was an associate professor in the Transportation Systems Division of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Civil Engineering. The author of numerous books and articles, Winston has published “Market Corrections Not Government Interventions: A Path to Improve the U.S. Economy” (2025); “Reforming Occupational Licensing in the U.S.: Reducing Social Costs and Increasing Social Benefits in the Legal, Medical, and Financial Services Professions” editor (2024); “Revitalizing a Nation: Competition and Innovation in the U.S. Transportation Industry” with Jia Yan and Associates (2024); “Gaining Ground: Markets Helping Government” (2021); “Trouble at the Bar: An Economics Perspective on the Legal Profession and Proposals For Reform” with David Burk and Jia Yan (2021); “Autonomous Vehicles: The Road to Economic Growth?” with Quentin Karpilow (2020); “First Thing We Do, Let’s Deregulate All the Lawyers,” with Robert Crandall and Vikram Maheshri (2011); “Last Exit: Privatization and Deregulation of the U.S. Transportation System” (2010); “Government Failure versus Market Failure” (2006); “Deregulation of Network Industries: What’s Next?” with Sam Peltzman (2000); “Essays in Transportation Economics and Policy: A Handbook in Honor of John R. Meyer,” with Jose A. Gomez-Ibanez and William B. Tye (1999); “Alternate Route: Toward Efficient Urban Transportation,” with Chad Shirley (1998); “The Evolution of the Airline Industry,” with Steven A. Morrison (1995); “The Economic Effects of Surface Freight Deregulation,” with Thomas M. Corsi, Curtis M. Grimm, and Carol A. Evans (1990); “Road Work: A New Highway Pricing and Investment Policy,” with Kenneth A. Small and Carol Evans (1989); “Liability: Perspectives and Policy,” with Robert E. Litan (1988); “Blind Intersection? Policy and the Automobile Industry,” co-author (1987); and “The Economic Effects of Airline Deregulation,” with Steven Morrison (1986). His articles have appeared in such journals as the American Economic Review, Econometrica, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Economic Literature, Bell Journal of Economics, and the Rand Journal of Economics. Dr. Winston received his A.B. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1974, his M.Sc. from the London School of Economics in 1975, and his Ph.D. in economics from U.C. Berkeley in 1979.

Innovation is the hot sauce of economic progress. Trevor Chandler is one of the hottest inventors on the planet. Whether it's inventing Covid detection masks, AI-driven portable disease-detection machines, or robotic AI-guided robotic sensors, Trevor is a whirlwind of discovery and practical implementation. Join me in this fascinating and highly entertaining interview with Trevor Chandler. You'll meet his robots, learn about Mask Zero -- the future of pandemic protection, which I previously discussed with Trevor's extraordinary business partner, Adam Pener, and find yourself at the frontier of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), if not Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). Trevor's patents may well represent not just the hot, but the secret sauce to achieving AGI and ASI.

In a compelling discussion, John Llewellyn, former chief economist at Lehman Brothers and founder of Independent-Economics, shares insights from his extensive experience in global macroeconomics. He explores the heightened geopolitical influences on today's markets and compares current risks to the 2008 financial crisis, emphasizing leverage and opacity. Llewellyn also discusses the implications of AI on jobs and inequality, as well as shifts in European defense due to the Ukraine war. His reflections provide a thought-provoking perspective on today's economic landscape.