Kris Mitchener on What Actually Anchors the Price Level — Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Kris Mitchener is a professor of economics at Santa Clara University and is an economic and monetary historian. In Kris's first appearance on the show, he discusses how he fell in love with building data sets out of old dusty archives, the origins and fall of bimetallism, the pros and cons of the gold standard, the problem of operating losses on the Fed's balance sheet, what truly anchors the price level, and much more.

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Recorded on March 4th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:33 - Kris' Career Path

00:06:32 - What Is Bimetallism?

00:14:41 - The Gold Standard

00:28:55 - Disinflation Policies and Central Bank Finances

00:49:25 - What Anchors the Price Level

00:55:22 - Outro