The Minutes of John Williams on history https://minutesof.com/john-williams/on/history/ Everything John Williams has said on history: 3 verbatim quotes, each with a timestamp and a link to the recording it came from. en Sun, 30 Aug 2026 16:23:03 +0000 at that time stock exchange floors were loud places crowded with people and paper, Paul Volcker was the Federa https://minutesof.com/q/a6d5e80a-e4c1-4c24-9d37-f081e6ba53d1/ https://minutesof.com/q/a6d5e80a-e4c1-4c24-9d37-f081e6ba53d1/ “at that time stock exchange floors were loud places crowded with people and paper, Paul Volcker was the Federal Reserve chairman, having helped steer the country out of a period of high inflation, and a single European currency remained just an idea.” — NY Fed speeches history Williams links 1970s productivity slowdown to stagflation and 1990s-2000s boom to low-inflation prosperity. https://minutesof.com/q/51f2e00e-7ee3-4707-ae15-0e1532531e40/ https://minutesof.com/q/51f2e00e-7ee3-4707-ae15-0e1532531e40/ “The productivity slowdown of the 1970s contributed to stagflation. And the productivity boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s was a contributing factor to that decade’s economic prosperity with low inflation.” — NY Fed speeches history Williams identifies two distinct productivity regimes: 3 percent during boom periods versus 1.5 percent otherw https://minutesof.com/q/c35b7482-c673-4f88-99bf-9189ad9d4ad0/ https://minutesof.com/q/c35b7482-c673-4f88-99bf-9189ad9d4ad0/ “In each of these episodes, productivity growth averaged around 3 percent. At other times, relatively slow productivity growth of around 1-1/2 percent prevailed.” — NY Fed speeches history