This week I wrote my first Value Added blog post at Equitable Growth My conversation with Matt Yglesias on *The Weeds* is out. My campaign with economists wages on.
I feel deeply that economics affects everyone. 2008 was my first year as a macroeconomist at the Federal Reserve. It did not take long to shake the theories from grad school out of me. In the moment, I tried to do the best I could. We all did. After the crisis, and even today, I have so many questions. Here are three from this week.
Why Americans need to know more about the Federal Reserve
I want to widen the conversation around the Federal Reserve beyond economists, financial analysts, and market commentators. Even so, if people don’t know what the Federal Reserve does, why would they care? My post kicks off this effort.
If in the Great Recession, you, a family member, or a friend lost their job, home, or business, I don’t need to tell you how damaging the recession and slow recovery were. Research backs you up. Losing a job creates immense strain on workers and their families at the time and has negative effects for years thereafter. Even if you were spared such losses, the widespread hit to the economy likely had negative effects for you too. Average raises have been meager, wealth remains below its pre-recession level for many households, and, with less financial support from their families, students often took out more college loans.
Now, let’s talk about policy. The Federal Reserve did act swiftly during the Great Recession, pushing the federal funds rate to zero. It acted as lender of last resort to keep financial markets going. It created new tools to support the economy. One can make the case that since the recession, it has done more than any other policymakers. One can also make the case that it missed the signs of the coming financial crisis in the early to mid-2000s and that it used the political capital it had to save Wall Street. Everyone in the country needs banks and financial institutions. Most Americans need jobs too. Here, the Federal Reserve fell short. It did not react with the same commitment to Main Street as Wall Street.
I have a lot more to say AND LEARN about the Federal Reserve. As one example, I am fascinated with the history of the Fed’s full employment mandate. I have been reading, *The Political Failure of Employment Policy.* Matt Boesler recommended that book and wrote an excellent piece on full employment this week.
Fix recessions by giving people money
Yeah! I am on *The Weeds* this week.
I am thrilled to have so many opportunities to share my ideas about fighting the next recession. I want to share them widely. Among podcasts, I have been on Macro Musings, The Indicator, and now Odd Lots. Matt mentioned that it took a while to get me on his show. I absolutely loved being a Fed economist, but to have a distinct (quotable, recordable) voice I had to leave. It is a huge relief that folks want to hear what I have to say. It is a also blessing how much I have learned from these conversations.
PS My proposal of direct payments to individuals is in the *Recession Ready* volume, along with many other smart ways to fight recessions.
Helping economists make economics better
I started my macromom blog over two years ago when an undergraduate economics major wrote her thesis and told the profession what they already knew. But had refused to accept. Economics is not diverse and it is not inclusive. DUH. What I had also learned by that point is that a toxic environment hurts people and it hurts the work.
I celebrate all the people who ask me how to make a recession less painful. I also remember this exchange from 2008 (in my first blog post). I had tried to to explain how the 2008 stimulus payments would affect consumer spending.
2008 – said to me, or rather to the person I was trying to explain a forecast detail to by his supervisor …
“Don’t listen to her. She doesn’t know what she is talking about.”
tl;dr led to crappy answer in the boardroom (bad form for me to correct a colleague there, so I was silent) the work suffered not just my self esteem.
He was WRONG. I DO know what I am talking about. So do many other women and men who were shut up and kept out.
If you watch me on Twitter, read this blog, or know me in person, you must have noticed that I try MANY ways to push economists to be better stewards of the profession. In recent weeks, I have emailed department chairs and my friends at there to ask them to participate in EconTrack. Here are the institutions with the names of their flyout candidates on EconTrack now. YEAH!
I am fully aware that my EconTrack outreach was odd. I am not in leadership at the American Economics Association. I am a member and I am DEEPLY concerned about another online forum that is currently one-stop-shop for hiring information,. It is anonymously sourced and (surprise, surprise) the information is often incorrect. In addition, the main site is toxic and has posts from anonymous economists. It has existed since I was on the job market 12 years ago. Ignoring it has not made it go away. It is my mission to make sure this year is its LAST YEAR. My EconTrack outreach is the first step in my plan. This toxic online forum is a symptom of much larger disease in the economic profession. Exclusion and ill treatment has been a part of our culture for hundreds of years. I’m m creative and stubborn. I trained on fighting the Borg for 12 years. I can do this, only with support. Support is growing and among people I never expected.
I will be honest. Some days advocating for more diversity and inclusion in economics are discouraging. Bad days are when I see vicious attacks on EJMR, a recent one was calling a black women economist a” monkey.” Worst days are when people who contact me directly with cruelty offline by their colleagues. Thank goodness I had manager training at the Board AND I am blessed with amazing mentors and colleagues. Dude in the quote above is among handful of bad actors at the Board, though sadly now a high-up officer. I do worry that my actions at times make things worse. I struggled as I read John Cochrane’s blog post this week. I try reflect when my first reaction is to argue with. Passion is fine, aggression is not, for me. I keep asking questions.
