Ben Harris on AI, Fiscal Sustainability, and the Resilience of the U.S. Economy

本·哈里斯论人工智能、财政可持续性及美国经济韧性

Macro Musings with David Beckworth

2026-08-24

57 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Ben Harris is vice president and director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution and previously served in senior economic policy roles at the Treasury Department and Council of Economic Advisers. Ben returns to the program to discuss why recent economic shocks have been less damaging than expected, the outlook for inflation and energy markets, whether AI can improve the U.S. fiscal outlook, why we should temper our AI optimism, how longer lifespans and higher interest rates could complicate the fiscal picture, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on July 20th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Follow Ben on X: @econ_harris Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:55 - Reasons We Were Wrong 00:11:58 - Stubborn Inflation 00:14:57 - Crude Is Not Really the Problem 00:20:12 - A Novel Sanctions Regime 00:30:35 - Temper Your AI Optimism 00:39:34 - Longer Lives, But Larger Debt 00:45:00 - AI and the Future of Interest Rates 00:49:24 - Policy Implications 00:56:26 - Outro
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  • Welcome to Macro Musings, where each week we pull back the curtain

  • and take a closer look at the most important macroeconomic issues of the past, present, and future.

  • I am your host, David Beckworth, a senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,

  • and I'm glad you decided to join us.

  • Our guest today is Ben Harris.

  • Ben is the Vice President and Director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution.

  • He is also a veteran of the Treasury Department

  • and the Council of Economic Advisors and is a return guest to the show.

  • So check out his earlier appearance if you haven't already.

  • Ben, welcome back to the program.

  • Thanks for having me.

  • It's great to have you on.

  • It's about a year ago that you were on the show.

  • We had a great conversation then about all things fiscal.

  • We'll return to that topic because it hasn't gotten much better.

  • It's gotten worse probably.

  • It's gotten worse.

  • The outlook, and that's a big, big deal for us.

  • But you have a new perspective to shed on this, and that is what role AI can help play toward that.

  • But Ben, I have some other questions I want to raise with you because I was someone