Former US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's forthcoming appointment to lead the Department of the Treasury is good news for advocates of rules-based monetary policymaking. Following a period of emergency measures, what the US needs now is a return to clear and predictable decision-making.
STANFORD – No US secretary of the treasury will have spoken out so often and with as much authority about monetary policy as Janet Yellen once she is sworn into that position. The only other former Federal Reserve chair to become treasury secretary was G. William Miller in 1979, and he had spent only one year at the Fed. Yellen, by contrast, previously served for two decades there – through good times and bad – with stints as staff economist, governor, president of the San Francisco District, vice chair, and chair.
STANFORD – No US secretary of the treasury will have spoken out so often and with as much authority about monetary policy as Janet Yellen once she is sworn into that position. The only other former Federal Reserve chair to become treasury secretary was G. William Miller in 1979, and he had spent only one year at the Fed. Yellen, by contrast, previously served for two decades there – through good times and bad – with stints as staff economist, governor, president of the San Francisco District, vice chair, and chair.