Ben Harris on AI, Fiscal Sustainability, and the Resilience of the U.S. Economy

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.

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Recorded on July 20th, 2026

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:55 - Reasons We Were Wrong