John Turner

.@GeorgeSelgin) has spent over four decades thinking about money, banking, and economic history, and @tylercowen has been swapping ideas with himsince George was a grad student at NYU. In George’s new book, he explains why the New Deal was neither what its champions nor critics think it was. For one, it was hardly a spending spree—Roosevelt largely ignored Keynes's "very sound" advice on recovery, and fiscal stimulus would've worked far better than the hodgepodge of programs that he ended up pursuing. For another, it wasn’t WWII military spending that finally cemented recovery, but a big post-war private investment boom thanks to a friendlier climate towards business. Timestamps for the conversation, which was recorded live at @CatoInstitute: 0:00:57 – A simple summary of New Deal 0:06:39 – Rundown of which New Deal policies helped, hurt, or didn’t matter 0:13:52 – What better fiscal policy would’ve looked like 0:16:34 – Causes of the Great Depression 0:22:02 – Keynes’s sound but unheeded advice, Hayek’s miss 0:32:04 – Whether fewer, bigger banks is better 0:38:36 – How the quantity theory of money holds up 0:43:18 – Central bank independence 0:46:56 – How many countries should dollarize 0:49:31 – Stablecoins 0:52:07 – George Selgin production function 01:00:10 – Q&A Watch the full episode here or follow the links in the next tweet.