terms of (full) employment

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that aired Monday, August 4, 2025. Click here to listen to the segment, recorded Friday, 8/1, before the announcement of change in leadership at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists talk lots about labor-market conditions in the macroeconomy. And to do so, they use lots of […]

symbiosis

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that aired on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. Click here to listen to the show, which begins at 23:40. The debate about trade policy—and specifically, the imposition of across-the-board tariffs for whatever reason—often overlooks the symbiotic relationship between U.S. trade deficits and the U.S. dollar as the […]

scale matters

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that airs Monday, April 7. Click here to listen to the segment, which begins at 1 minute into In the Moment. The U.S. economy is big—like, really big. Consider, for example, Figure 1, in which I illustrate nominal GDP, which measures the market value of all […]

they might be giants

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that aired Wednesday, January 8. Click here to listen; the segment begins the SDPB program, In the Moment. Last weekend, I visited San Francisco to attend the annual three-day meeting of the American Economic Association (AEA), which meets in conjunction with 66 associations in allied disciplines known […]

ready player one

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment recorded on Friday, October 11 and scheduled to air on Tuesday, October 15, 2024. Link to the segment, which begins about a minute into the broadcast. We have gamified monetary policy, or so it seems. Schooled readers know I am fond of a quarter-century-old quip by […]

the inflation fallacy

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that airs on Monday, July 1, 2024. Click here to listen to the show. For more macroeconomic analysis, follow J. M. Santos on Twitter @NSMEdirector. For the last Monday Macro segment, I sat down with SDPB’s Lori Walsh to discuss the seeming disconnect between the relatively […]

exorbitant privilege

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that airs on Monday, April 29, 2024. Click here to listen to the show, which begins at minute 21:30. For more macroeconomic analysis, follow J. M. Santos on Twitter @NSMEdirector. In the global financial system, the U.S. dollar enjoys an exorbitant privilege, or so say the […]

commercial interruption

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that airs on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Click here to listen to the show. For more macroeconomic analysis, follow J. M. Santos on Twitter @NSMEdirector. In 1895 in response to rumors he was dead, Samuel Clemens—aka, Mark Twain—quipped, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” […]

runoff

This blog post accompanies the SDPB Monday Macro segment that airs on Monday, February 5, 2024. Click here to listen to the segment, which begins at minute 12. For more macroeconomic analysis, follow J. M. Santos on Twitter @NSMEdirector. Last week was busy for macroeconomists, particularly those who listened very carefully. On Wednesday, everyone heard […]