Macro Musings with David Beckworth · Monday, August 31, 2026
Donald Kohn shared anecdotes from his early career at the Kansas City Fed and the Board of Governors. He recalled a colleague, Tom Hanh, and a playful accusation of an elbow injury during a basketball game.
“And one of my colleagues here, Tom Hanh, was one of your colleagues back in the day. Oh, wow. Tom claims I injured him with an elbow in his ribs or something once, but yeah, so we were colleagues there.”
“And then you go to the Board of Governors as a staff for 1975, you tell on the podcast.”
“And I encourage listeners to check it out because you tell fascinating details about your time working with Arthur Burns, Paul Volcker, Alan Greenspan.”
“So when I when he came, there was an opening, the RNS research and statistics division had left. That was an opening. There was a competition or it was uncertain who would succeed him.”