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Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Understanding the Sahm Rule (with economist Claudia Sahm)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.81.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mainstream economists have been predicting a recession on the horizon for over a year, with some doomsayers even making up something called “a non-recession recession” to characterize the state of the economy. There’s no better person to cut through all this bluster and nonsense than the creator of one of the most reliable economic indicators created in the last few decades: the Sahm Rule, which aims to predict and track recessions in real time. Former Federal Reserve economist Claudia Sahm joins the podcast to walk us through the Sahm Rule’s methodology and explains how it utilizes timely data to provide early warnings of economic downturns, offering policymakers, businesses, and individuals a valuable tool for proactive decision-making. Claudia Sahm is an esteemed economist and policy expert who has served as director of macroeconomic policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve, and economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama. She’s known for her contributions to macroeconomics and the development of the Sahm Rule, her research on monetary policy, labor markets, and macroeconomic stabilization has made her a trusted advisor and consultant to policymakers and organizations seeking evidence-based insights. Twitter: @Claudia_Sahm Claudia Sahm Substack: https://stayathomemacro.substack.com/ ‘We do not need a recession, but we may get one’: https://www.ft.com/content/3213f700-26a7-4d84-aca0-d7cc5bf11484 Nick's new book, Corporate Bullsh*t, is out now! https://www.corporatebsbook.com Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Twitter: @PitchforkEcon Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Transcript

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0:00.0

So there's been this conversation about the Somme Rule, how it was triggered?

0:06.0

The Somme Rule is very straightforward.

0:08.5

I focus on the unemployment rate.

0:10.0

The unemployment rate is, I mean it's widely followed, people understand it, and it's the reason that we fight recessions.

0:16.0

People are talking about are we in a recession? You have endless debates about the GDP and all that, and what you should be talking about in economic

0:23.7

conversations is is this good for the middle class is this good for the

0:27.5

economy

0:30.4

from the home offices of Civic Ventures in downtown Seattle, this is Pitch Fork Economics,

0:38.0

with Nick Hanauer, the best place to get the truth about who gets what and why.

0:43.0

I'm David Goldstein, senior fellow at Civic Ventures.

0:50.0

I'm Paul Constant and I'm Senior Fellow at Civic Ventures.

0:53.0

I'm Paul Constant and I'm a writer at Civic Ventures.

0:56.0

Wait, Paul, you're not Nick.

1:01.0

I am not and I beat myself up over it every day.

1:07.2

Well, unfortunately, Nick is under the weather so he couldn't make this recording.

1:14.3

So Paul, we've invited you in to be the billionaire today.

1:17.8

Yeah, yeah, feels good.

1:19.7

I have to say, I thought that once you passed the nine figure mark that you didn't get sick anymore so this is really I'm learning a lot to them already

1:29.0

Yeah, no they haven't quite managed to purchase immortality but I think

1:36.4

Elon Musk thinks that's coming so we'll we'll find out but we would have delayed this podcast often if Nick can't make it we'll reschedule

1:47.6

But we didn't want to miss today's conversation with the economist Claudia Somme.

1:53.8

Today is CPI Day this morning,

...

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