1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 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&amp;nbsp;the&amp;nbsp;full length video&amp;nbsp;on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the&amp;nbsp;transcript&amp;nbsp;for this week’s episode, now with links. Recorded on July 20th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack:&amp;nbsp;Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X:&amp;nbsp;@DavidBeckworth Follow the show on X:&amp;nbsp;@Macro_Musings Follow Ben on X:&amp;nbsp;@econ_harris Check out our Macro Musings&amp;nbsp;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 Macro Musings with David Beckworth https://macroeconomicpolicynexus.substack.com/ <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/42515005/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/205327220