Ep. 219: Jason Furman on Inflation Persistence, Fed Policy and Debt Levels

Jason Furman is the Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy jointly at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the Department of Economics at Harvard University. He is also non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Previously, Furman served eight years as a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, including serving as the 28th Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from August 2013 to January 2017, acting as both Obama’s chief economist and a member of the cabinet. In this podcast we discuss:

Difference between policymaking and academia
What caused post-COVID inflation?
Inflation persistence
Fed’s track record and likely next move
Rating Biden’s fiscal packages
Has US productivity increased?
Does R-star matter?
Should we worry about US debt?
US healthcare costs
Is there much government waste?
US-China challenge
US election impacts
Books mentioned: The Logic of Collective Action (Olson), The Weirdest People in the World (Henrich)

You can follow Jason on X, Good Reads, and the WSJ

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