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Thomas Barkin

President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Search every verified Thomas Barkin interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Thomas Barkin, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, participated in several public discussions in late summer 2026, including a conversation-style interview with the Economic Club of Washington, a panel at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, and an episode of the Odd Lots podcast. In these appearances, he discussed the Federal Reserve's dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability, noting the record-low unemployment rate while acknowledging widespread public frustration with inflation. He also addressed the Fed's communication strategy, commenting on Chairman Kevin Warsh's renunciation of forward guidance and the risks of the Fed becoming boxed in by its own projections. Barkin also spoke about housing affordability, arguing that solutions lie primarily in increasing supply rather than demand-side measures like cheaper mortgages, and cited examples such as repurposing closed elementary schools and land banks. He discussed the resilience of the real economy, the potential economic impact of data centers, and the continued importance of cash in disaster situations, referencing the Fed's efforts to truck cash to Asheville after Hurricane Helene. Throughout, he emphasized the importance of getting inflation under control while weighing the effects of policy on different segments of the population.

Recent appearances

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“Um so maximum employment is very important, price stability is very important. You're always trying to, you know, uh weigh those two balances and where do you go? Um it's pretty easy to go well always you should bias on the employment side because the first people to get laid off are the least welloff but I think if there's one thing uh that we relearned over the last 5 years it's just how much everybody hates inflat”

“Well, so it's uh I think Jay once called it a curious balance. Uh the unemployment rate is 4.1%. Um for those of you keeping score at home, in the hundred years that we've measured the unemployment rate, we've never had more consecutive months of unemployment below 4 and a.5%. It's the all-time record. Well, sure doesn't feel like that, but that's an interesting stat just to reflect on. Initial unemployment claims, p”

“I think he was talking to the public. Be clear, I don't think he was talking to us today, but as you ask about what are good reasons not to bind yourself to a room that would now one that's consistent with the conversations that he's had publicly and and I and what I sense to be where as that communications task force is likely to go.”

“Well, I'm definitely 100% insistent on getting inflation under control. And I think it's fair to, to, hold that mirror against what we're doing and ask ourselves the question of whether we're doing it the right way.”

“I also 100% agree with Chairman Warsh when he says, you know, sometimes if you give too much forward guidance, you get stuck in it and you end up having to make a suboptimal decision because you've misguided. And I think it's fair to say that's part of the 2021, 2022. The story, which is we had very strong forward guidance in place, and it was very hard to to get your way out of it.”

“I instinctively like the idea of the Fed having a smaller footprint in financial markets, subject to us still being able to operate monetary policy and control rates well and subject to not having severe adverse reactions in the markets.”

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