David Beckworth on the Facts, Fears, and Functionality of NGDP Level Targeting

In this special episode of Macro Musings, the roles are reversed, and David Beckworth joins guest host Cardiff Garcia, host of NPR’s “The Indicator from Planet Money”, to talk about his newest paper, *Facts, Fears, and Functionality of NGDP Level Targeting: A Guide to a Popular Framework for Monetary Policy*. David and Cardiff conduct a deep dive into the plumbing of this potential monetary regime, as they discuss some of the most the important questions surrounding it. Some of these questions include: what is nominal GDP level targeting, and how does it differ from the Fed's current inflation targeting framework? How does NGDP targeting deal with economic downturns and in a more effective manner than inflation targeting? How can this framework be properly communicated and explained to the public? David answers these questions and addresses further concerns and criticisms of NGDP targeting in this unique installment of Macro Musings.   Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/10182019/david-beckworth-facts-fears-and-functionality-ngdp-level-targeting   David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth David’s blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/ David’s Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/david-beckworth   Cardiff’s Twitter: @CardiffGarcia Cardiff’s NPR profile: https://www.npr.org/people/567164716/cardiff-garcia   Related Links:   *Facts, Fears, and Functionality of Nominal GDP Level Targeting: A Guide to a Popular Framework for Monetary Policy* by David Beckworth https://www.mercatus.org/publications/monetary-policy/facts-fears-and-functionality-ngdp-level-targeting   *The Financial Stability Case for a Nominal GDP Target* by David Beckworth https://www.cato.org/cato-journal/springsummer-2019/financial-stability-case-nominal-gdp-target