Markus' Academy – Details, episodes & analysis

Follow the link for the full summary: https://markusacademy.substack.com/p/integrating-economics-and-epidemiology

Explore the webinar series: https://markusacademy.substack.com/archive

On March 30, 2020, Ramanan Laxminarayan joined Markus' Academy for a seminar on integrating economics and epidemiology to fight COVID-19 in India and around the world. Laxminarayan is a Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer at the Princeton Environmental Institute and Founder and Director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP) in Washington, D.C. and New Delhi.

Download the slides here.*

Timestamps: 

[0:00] Markus' Introduction 

[2:50] Beginning of Laxminarayan presentation 

[3:47] How long have we known about this 

[10:23] Human and institutional behavior in the context of epidemics 

[21:00] Building models in real time 

[45:18] Life on the front lines 

[48:22] Audience questions

Follow the link for the full summary: https://markusacademy.substack.com/p/evaluating-us-financial-stabilization 

Explore the webinar series: https://markusacademy.substack.com/archive

On March 26, 2020, Nellie Liang joined Markus' Academy. Liang is a Senior Fellow with the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings and a former director of the Division of Financial Stability at the Federal Reserve.

Download the slides here.*

Timestamps: 

[0:00] Markus' Introduction 

[8:24] Beginning of Liang presentation

[9:05] US COVID-19 response 

[14:00] Authorities for providing liquidity 

[17:02] Overview of intervention types 

[18:05] Overview of asset classes 

[26:18] Asset purchases and repo 

[27:49] Traditional and novel lender of last resort 

[30:47] Credit markets 

[40:41] Macroprudential policies 

[45:05] Mainstreet business lending 

[48:46] Government commitments for systemic policies and government employee growth

Follow the link for the full summary:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/p/covid-19-and-global-financial-markets 

Explore the webinar series:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/archive

On March 19, 2020, Torsten Slok joined Markus’ Academy for its first episode. Slok is the Chief Economist at Deutsche Bank.

Download the slides here.*

Timestamps:

[0:00] Markus’ Introduction

[19:49] Beginning of Slok’s presentation

[21:36] Presentation outline

[24:15] Before the virus

[27:48] The virus

[30:40] Financial market reaction to the virus

[56:12] Fed and ECB reaction

[58:02] Fiscal policy reaction

[1:03:29] Macroeconomic implications

[1:11:42] Audience questions

Follow the link for the full summary: https://markusacademy.substack.com/p/what-it-will-take-to-save-the-economy 

Explore the webinar series: https://markusacademy.substack.com/archive

On April 6, 2020, Olivier Blanchard joined Markus' Academy for a seminar on how COVID-19 has impacted the global economy—and what it will take to recover from this unprecedented crisis. Blanchard is a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute in Washington, D.C. and a former Chief Economist at the IMF.

Download the slides here.*

Timestamps: [0:00] Markus' introduction

[6:48] Beginning of Blanchard presentation

[9:09] Phase 1, decreasing the infection rate

[11:03] Phase 2, keeping the infection rate low

[14:16] Developing and emerging markets

[17:59] Infection fighting

[22:24] Disaster Relief

[27:43] Control of aggregate demand

[32:21] Debt sustainability

[36:18] The important fiscal role of central banks

[39:50] Back to developing and emerging markets

[41:23] The role of central banks and international institutions

[45:25] Audience questions

Follow the link for the full summary: https://markusacademy.substack.com/p/how-to-re-start-the-economy-after 

Explore the webinar series:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/archive 

On April 3, 2020, Nobel laureate Paul Romer joined the Princeton Bendheim Center for Finance for a seminar on the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and strategies for re-starting the economy once social distancing measures are lifted. Paul Romer is a Professor of Economics at New York University.

Download the slides here.*

Timestamps:

[0:00] Markus' introduction

[6:08] Beginning of Romer's presentation

[9:33] COVID-19 crisis in relation to the Financial Crisis of 2007-8

[13:16] A more efficient strategy

[24:01] Developing countries

[28:52] Masks, testing and contact tracing

[48:13] Learning from other countries

[51:09] Audience questions

Follow the link for the full summary: https://markusacademy.substack.com/p/the-future-social-and-political-implications 

Explore the webinar series: https://markusacademy.substack.com/archive

On April 10, 2020, Tyler Cowen joined Princeton's Bendheim Center for Finance for a seminar on the future social and political implications of Covid-19. Tyler Cowen is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University and a co-author of the Marginal Revolution blog on economics and economic policy.

Download the slides here.*

Timestamps: 

[0:00] Markus' introduction 

[12:26] Beginning of Cowen's presentation 

[14:58] Public opinion on China 

[17:53] How voters see politicians 

[21:53] Left, right, and center political views 

[31:31] Business world and well-capitalized firms 

[40:02] Deglobalization and less immigration 

[53:19] Social distancing 

[55:05] Which countries/sectors will recover most quickly 

[58:36] United States, rising or falling

Follow the link for the full summary:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/p/an-evaluation-of-the-fed-treasury

Link to sign up for the webinar series:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/

On May 11, 2020, Jeremy Stein joined Markus' Academy for a webinar, co-hosted by the Princeton Bendheim Center for Finance and the Society for Financial Studies, on the COVID-19 credit programs recently implemented by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury. Stein is a Professor of Economics at Harvard University and a former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.

Download the slides here.

Timestamps:

[0:00] Markus’ introduction

[16:43] Stein’ presentation begins

[18:14] Why support businesses in the first place?

[24:54] Mnuchin as Bagehot?

[28:53] High-level policy goals: micro and macro

[39:08] Existing program overview

[41:41] Public firm coverage

[47:52] Main Street programs in more detail

[54:25] Hardness of debt claims is a particular worry

[59:40] How to think about the staged-finance aspect

[1:02:41] Summary

[1:05:08] Audience Q&A

Follow the link for the full summary:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/p/the-benefits-of-targeted-policies

Link to sign up for the webinar series:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/

On May 8, 2020, Daron Acemoglu joined Markus' Academy for a webinar on his paper on the benefits of targeted policies for lifting lockdowns and recovering from COVID-19 (Acemoglu et al., 2020). Acemoglu is a Professor of Economics at MIT.

Download the slides here.

Timestamps:

[0:00] Markus’ introduction

[7:58] Beginning of Acemoglu’s presentation

[8:45] Background

[9:47] Varieties of heterogeneity

[12:12] What we do

[12:43] Summary of main findings

[16:53] Key equations

[25:13] Parameter choices

[28:18] Optimal uniform policy

[31:36] Optimal semi-targeted policy

[34:26] Optimal fully-targeted policy

[35:28] The Pareto frontier

[37:57] With greater value of life, another interesting contrast

[42:09] Bigger gains with between-group distancing

[43:18] Even bigger gains with testing-tracing

[44:34] Conclusion

[45:20] Audience Q&A

Follow the link for the full summary:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/p/the-future-of-globalization-after

Link to sign up for the webinar series:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/

On May 4, 2020, Dani Rodrik joined Markus' Academy for a webinar on COVID-19. Rodrik is a Professor of International Political Economy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Download the slides here.

Timestamps:

[0:00] Markus’ introduction

[13:34] Beginning of Rodrik presentation

[14:33] Economic overview

[22:55] Making a globalization

[28:37] Different economic globalizations in history

[32:55] The globalization backlash under the gold standard

[34:17] Why global rules? 

[36:01] Almost all policies have cross-border spillovers

[42:08] The limited case for global rules in economics

[50:39] Implications for the kind of globalization we should want

[56:29] Applying the logic to US-China trade

[1:00:31] The four buckets approach

[1:14:52] Conclusion

Follow the link for the full summary:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/p/encouraging-the-development-and-manufacturing

Link to sign up for the webinar series:

https://markusacademy.substack.com/

On May 1, 2020, Michael Kremer joined Markus' Academy for a webinar on COVID-19. Kremer is a Professor of Developing Studies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University and a 2019 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Download the slides here.

Timestamps:

[1:06] Markus’ introduction

[10:19] Beginning of Kremer’s presentation

[13:40] Is it worth building large-scale capacity in parallel with trials?

[17:57] Back of the envelope calculations

[21:46] Calculating the optimal number of vaccine candidates

[25:40] Structuring funding

[28:27] Proposed funding structure

[32:39] Calculating required pull funding

[34:48] Pull funding

[35:48] Supply chains: For want of a vial, the vaccine may be lost

[37:09] Could international cooperation be incentive compatible?

[50:01] Innovations to speed vaccine trials

[1:07:19] Conclusion