What are the FHLBs good for? Also, resilience in supervision, Flowers for Algernon, and why Train Dreams is the best movie of the 2020s. open.substack.com/pub/petercon...

A special multimedia post for today, the top 10 moments of Christmas 2025 featuring some original music, plenty of pictures, and a mandolin and classical guitar performance of O Come, O Come Emanuel, + some 6-year-old blue humored Mad Libs Take a look! petercontibrown.substack.com/p/the-conti-...

My father, Charlie Brown, lived a short and troubled life, leaving pain and trauma in his wake. In today’s Christmas Eve post, I describe coming to terms with his legacy.

Monday links on Scott Bessent’s changes to the FSOC, debanking good and bad, biking through wind chill, and a recent narrated podcast for Faith Matters. Take a look: petercontibrown.substack.com/p/monday-lin...

In 2025 I changed my party affiliation from Democrat to independent. Today’s post explains why open.substack.com/pub/petercon...

As the Fed chair sweepstakes enters its final days, the question for those of us who want to see a narrow conception of Fed independence survive is this: What do the Kevins believe about the macroeconomy? Are they part of the Magic Beans Coalition? See below for the context and how we can know.

What should we make of Miran's "inflation outlook"? I think the only real way to describe his views is to call it the Magic Beans Coalition in monetary policy. More on this and much else at the link below.

This time of year I am thinking about goals and resolutions. Today’s personal post is about what I hope to accomplish in 2026 after a marvelous 2025. Link below.

We’re heading into a potentially wild #FOMC meeting, plus thoughts on a recent Q&A on supervision with Randy Quarles, the digital euro, the scandal of Larry Summers, and Radiohead in Berlin. Take a look!👇

My Newsletter has been a source of great joy and engagement over the past year. Today I describe some changes and reflections as I seek to ramp it up. I hope you’ll join me for the ride – we’re going to start cooking with gas. Link 👇

What should we make of Sec Bessent’s proposal for a residency requirement for Reserve Bank Presidents? I’m sympathetic to the idea, but very skeptical of it in the present context. More below.

Can Kevin Hassett lead the Fed? What is up at the BIS Innovation Hub? Should we be worried about a collapse in American religiosity? And more at today’s Monday roundup. Link 👇

It’s the food holiday. My kids were playing the game “what is your last meal before they kill you” and asked me mine. Today’s post tells the stories behind my choices.

I’m grateful for a lot this Thanksgiving. I write my list — about my research, my students, my health, my people — at the link below.

Historian @petercontibrown.bsky.social on Warsh as Fed chair after recent op-ed praising Trump, pushing for rate cuts: "Warsh’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal is hard to read. I mean that quite literally. I really don’t quite know what his point is."

Kevin Warsh, a leading Fed Chair candidate, wrote a strange op-ed. I comment on it, on changes in bank supervision, the abuse of financial sanctions, and my preliminary report on my successful (er, mostly; I still can't walk right) completion of the Philadelphia marathon. Take a look!

It’s race day! And a chilly one for my first marathon in my beautiful home town of Philadelphia Wish me luck, I probably won’t die.

It’s Q&A time at the blog. I talk about conspiracy theories, how to find good bikes without blowing up your budget, the most critical factor in protecting a marriage (including an homage to my beloved NCB), and more. Take a look and let me know what you think!

i think @petercontibrown.bsky.social has previously mentioned his opinion on this, and i am glad that he now write that out thoroughly I increasingly agree with this sentiment

I think the Biden Administration’s record at the Fed is abysmal. Today’s post explains their former president’s legacy of failure.

Here’s what’s on my mind as we start the week, from a new paper on the efficacy of bank supervision to sudden resignations at the Fed to a love affair with my race bike to my decidedly not love affair with my first upcoming marathon.

The emotional and rhetorical posture of our day is exhausted, frenzied anxiety. In today’s personal post, I respectfully dissent. Link in the comments below.

There is a debate underway about whether supervisors should criticize bank managerial competence. History supports that very long tradition. See more ar open.substack.com/pub/petercon...

It's time for the monthly AMA -- send me your questions, it's my favorite post of the month.

In this week's links, I discuss the divided FOMC, a new paper on when businesses sue their regulators, thoughts on bank robberies, a movie review movie, & reflections on why my bpm spikes so hard at elevation. Link below.

In today’s personal post I write about mentorship and the ways I have sometimes mismanaged it. Take a look, link in comments.

Last week the Tenth Circuit issued its long-awaited decision in Custodia Bank vs the Federal Reserve. Custodia lost in a 2-1 decision. I think the Fed — through its behavior throughout the process — has lost far more. Today’s deep dive looks at why, link below.

What is happening in bank supervision at the Fed? And what should we make of the split dissents at the FOMC? Plus a mini review of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s marvelous new book, some thoughts on reversible bike stems, and (though you were not expecting this) a link to an essay on Burning Man. Link below!

Earlier this month I wrote about my experiences with anti-Mormonism. What I didn’t expect was one of the people I mentioned, fully anonymized, would see himself in it and reach out to me to discuss. What followed was one of the most remarkable exchanges I have ever had. Link in the comments below.

How should we think about the Fed chair sweepstakes? What does it mean when candidates say weird things on the path to nomination? How do you pronounce Bessent? All this and more in today’s newsletter: open.substack.com/pub/petercon...

Publication day! @seanvanatta.bsky.social and I are proud of this book and hope you’ll love it. Let us know what you think!

In Private Finance, Public Power, Peter Conti-Brown & Sean Vanatta offer a new history of finance & public policy in the United States by examining the idiosyncratic way the nation manages financial risk across the public-private divide. Out June 24. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Super fun show this week with @seanvanatta.bsky.social and @petercontibrown.bsky.social on their new history of bank supervision in the United States. We also cover the recent SCOTUS case on POTUS removing Fed governors, powerlifting, and more! www.mercatus.org/macro-musing... (1/n)

What do powerlifting and economic hysteresis have in common? My latest newsletter explores this connection, building on @petercontibrown.bsky.social Conti-Brown's powerlifting journey and @lucafornaro.bsky.social's hysteresis research. macroeconomicpolicynexus.substack.com/p/let-it-fai...

This is really extraordinary. A close friend from South Korea told me over dinner last week that in his mind Korea has only two enemies: China and Japan. This is starting to change.

Some various thoughts on Fed independence and agency independence, stablecoin legislation, an upcoming conference, and my first real half marathon. petercontibrown.substack.com/p/tuesday-li...

First review of Private Finance, Public Power by @stevenkelly49.bsky.social ! Check it out and preorder now!

In American Banker, I review (spoiler alert: positively) @petercontibrown.bsky.social and @seanvanatta.bsky.social's forthcoming book on the history of bank supervision in America:

Tuesday's links on debanking, Trump & the Fed, Musk & the Fed, DEI, and Bill Gates (and I guess Bill Clinton) open.substack.com/pub/petercon...

“As the saying goes, if you pick up one end of the stick, you pick up the other,” Peter Conti-Brown, professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said. “The Fed is a single stick.” www.semafor.com/article/02/2... @petercontibrown.bsky.social

Personal post below. My son’s Valentine’s candy triggered a painful memory that ambushed me this week. That memory, his reaction, and when past is neither prologue nor even really past. petercontibrown.substack.com/p/fun-dip

Personal post below. My son’s Valentine’s candy triggered a painful memory that ambushed me this week. That memory, his reaction, and when past is neither prologue nor even really past. petercontibrown.substack.com/p/fun-dip

Monday links where I talk about debanking, Rodney Hood's appointment, Fed politics, Marxist errors, why we should tune out a bit more, and why I cannot get enough of the Kelce-Swift-Mahomes-Reid frowny-face memes. petercontibrown.substack.com/p/monday-lin...

Some thoughts on our political moment, kakistocracy, and Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias (also the neuroplasticity of teenage brains). open.substack.com/pub/petercon...

Mailbag time at the blog—send me your questions, link here: open.substack.com/pub/petercon...

A “crypto Glass-Steagal” is worth considering in the US. Like if your coinbase, you can facilitate trading in the regulatory blessed crypto (ETH, BTC) or memecoins but not both

Today's post on what I am reading, including on Fed and climate, Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, memecoins, Musk's knowledge consumption function, and Macro Musings. Take a look! petercontibrown.substack.com/p/monday-lin...

I had a wonderful conversation with @davidbeckworth.bsky.social on Macro Musings about Trump, the Fed, and my Substack among much else. Listen below. macromusings.libsyn.com/peter-conti-...

Today’s personal essay is my 9-year-old self, a traumatic move, a great teacher, and a big fishy lie. Take a look! petercontibrown.substack.com/p/fish-stori...

This was about avoiding fights on peripheral issues (or issues other than monetary policy independence) in order to close ranks around preserving monetary policy independence. @petercontibrown.bsky.social put it well here petercontibrown.substack.com/p/the-partis...