Janet Yellen

Yellen's academic career has largely focused on the analysis of the mechanisms of unemployment and labor markets, monetary and fiscal policies, and international trade. She has written a few widely cited papers, often collaborating on research with her husband, Professor George Akerlof.[28][29]

Since the 1980s, Yellen and Akerlof have addressed what's known in the economics literature as "efficiency wage theory" – the idea that paying people more than the market wage does increase their productivity. Their 1990 paper, entitled "The Fair-Wage Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment", coined "the fair wage effort hypothesis" and was considered by economists to be a significant contribution to the topic: "A precursor to the efficiency wage literature...it had an influence, although the work on efficiency wage theory has had a bigger influence."[30] Akerlof and Yellen introduced the gift-exchange game, which argues that workers who are paid less than what they consider to be a fair wage will purposefully work less hard to exact revenge on their employer.[30][28]

Another work, "An Analysis of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in the United States", co-written with Akerlof and Michael Katz and published in 1996, aims to explain why out-of-wedlock births have grown considerably in previous decades in the United States. A research study led to a theory called "reproductive technology shock", arguing that the increased availability of both abortion and contraception in the late 1960s and early 1970s, amidst the sexual revolution, eroded the social norms surrounding sex, pregnancy, and marriage, leading to a sharp decline in the stigma of unwed motherhood.[31] At the same time, this transformation encouraged biological fathers to reject notions of marital and paternal obligations.[32]

On April 12, 2004, the Federal Reserve announced that Yellen would replace Robert T. Parry as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, taking office on June 14.[48] She was the first woman to hold this position.[18] While serving as Federal Reserve District president, she sat on the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and was a voting member once every three years on a rotating basis, with her first being in 2006.[48] During her time at the San Francisco Fed, the largest of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks in terms of population and economic output, Yellen publicly downplayed concerns about the potential consequences of the boom in housing prices; at FOMC meetings, on the contrary, she sounded the alarm on banks' heavy concentration in risky construction and home-development loans.[49] On the other hand, she did not lead the San Francisco Fed to "move to check [the] increasingly indiscriminate lending" of Countrywide Financial, the United States' largest lender.[50][51]

On June 5, 2009, Yellen said that the Federal Reserve should consider raising interest rates earlier to prevent another housing bubble. She argued that higher short-term interest rates probably went against the expansion of a bubble in certain circumstances, like restraining the demand for housing and high-risk mortgages.[52]

In July 2009, Yellen was mentioned as a potential successor to Chairman Ben Bernanke when his term was set to expire before he was re-nominated for a second four-year term.[53] She eventually emerged as the leading contender for vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board in March 2010,[54] and following her Senate confirmation, she resigned from the San Francisco Fed in October of that year.[55]

Yellen takes the oath of office administered by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke in the Eccles Building, October 4, 2010

On April 28, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Yellen to succeed Donald Kohn as vice chair of the Federal Reserve.[56] In July 2010, the Senate Banking Committee voted 17–6 to confirm her, though the top Republican on the panel, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, voted no, saying "President Yellen presided over a regional housing bubble and failed to restrain the excesses."[57]

Around the same time, on the heels of related testimony by Fed chairman Bernanke, FOMC voting member James B. Bullard of the St. Louis Fed stated that the U.S. economy was at risk of becoming "enmeshed in a Japanese-style deflationary outcome within the next several years."[58] That statement was interpreted as a possible shift within the FOMC balance between inflation hawks and doves. Yellen's pending confirmation, along with those of Peter Diamond and Sarah Bloom Raskin to fill vacancies, was seen as possibly furthering such a shift in the FOMC. All three nominations were seen as "on track to be confirmed by the Senate."[58]

On September 29, 2010, Yellen, along with Raskin,[59] was confirmed by the Senate on a voice vote to be both a member of the board of governors[60] and vice chairman of the Federal Reserve System.[61] On October 4, the pair were sworn in as Fed governors, while Yellen also took the oath of office as vice chair of the board for a four-year term.[55] Simultaneously, she began a 14-year term as a member of the Federal Reserve Board, filling a vacant seat last held by Mark W. Olson.[55] Yellen was just the second woman to hold the Federal Reserve's No. 2 post, after Alice Rivlin.[62]

In contrast to her predecessors, Yellen acted more independently within the institution in her role as vice chair.[63] She has been urging Bernanke and the other FOMC members to follow her preferred route for monetary policy, arguing for more forceful actions to inject money into the economy to reduce unemployment.[64] Yellen played a leading role in moving the Federal Reserve to announce its inflation target of two percent a year after her long campaign with Chairman Bernanke; she was an early supporter of inflation targeting, facing opposition from Chairman Greenspan during her first stint at the Fed in the 1990s.[65][63]

Yellen was widely considered the front-runner to succeed Bernanke as the Federal Reserve's chair when his second term ceased.[65][66][67] Lawrence Summers, a former President Clinton's Treasury Secretary and former director of President Obama's National Economic Council, was the other leading contender in the highly publicized race; media outlets reported that the president was leaning toward selecting the latter candidate.[68] However, throughout the race, Summers drew criticism from both sides of the aisle for his role in deregulating parts of the banking sector while he served in the Clinton administration. He sparked further controversy for remarks on women's aptitude in math and science, which he made in 2005 while serving as Harvard University's president.[18] In July 2013, Yellen was pushed to be named the first chairwoman of the central bank in a letter that was circulated among the Senate Democrats and had been signed by almost a third of the 54 caucus senators, who primarily represent the liberal wing of the party.[69] In addition, more than 500 professional economists from around 200 colleges and universities across the United States signed an open letter in support of her candidacy for Fed chair and sent it to the White House.[70] After weeks of opposition to his potential nomination, Summers withdrew his name from consideration for the position in September.[71][72]

Official portrait as Federal Reserve chair, 2015

From left to right: Janet Yellen, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, and Paul Volcker, May 1, 2014

Yellen in conversation with IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, July 2, 2014

On October 9, 2013, Yellen was officially nominated to replace Bernanke as chair of the Federal Reserve,[73][74] the first vice chair ever to be elevated to that post.[75] While announcing his decision, President Obama called her "one of the nation's foremost economists and policymakers" and said that "America's workers and their families will have a champion in Janet Yellen."[76] During the nomination hearings held in November, Yellen defended the more than $3 trillion in stimulus funds that the central bank had been injecting into the U.S. economy.[77] She also said that it is important for the Fed to try to detect asset bubbles and that if she saw one, she would work to address it.[78]

On December 20, 2013, the U.S. Senate voted 59–34 for cloture on Yellen's nomination.[79] On January 6, 2014, she was confirmed as chair of the Federal Reserve by a vote of 56–26,[80] the narrowest margin ever for the position.[81] Yellen was a trailblazer as the first woman to head the U.S. central bank, or any major central bank, and the first Democrat to do so since Paul Volcker assumed that position in 1979 via President Jimmy Carter.[1] She was sworn into office on February 3, 2014,[82] and was previously elected as FOMC chair on January 30.[83] According to a Fed representative, on Yellen's request, her title would be altered to "chair" rather than "chairman" or "chairwoman", as she prefers a gender-neutral manner.[62][18] Only one woman had ever led the central bank of a G8 country before Yellen – Russia's Elvira Nabiullina.[84]

In July 2014, at her first semi-annual congressional testimony on U S. monetary policy, Yellen said, "while real estate, equities, and corporate bond prices have risen appreciably and valuation metrics have increased they were generally in line with historical norms." She also acknowledged some concerns about the valuations of lower-rated corporate debt and affirmed that she and other Fed officials were monitoring trends but did not believe that a so-called "everything bubble" was forming.[85]

On December 16, 2015, the Federal Reserve under Yellen increased its key interest rate for the first time since 2006.[86] That move was largely expected because extraordinarily low rates for an extremely long time may contribute to financial instability and pose a threat to the economy, and was considered a departure from the previous controversial Fed policy, commonly known as the "Greenspan put".[87][88] During her tenure, the Fed has gradually raised rates four additional times, leaving its key rate in a still-low range of 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent – well below historical standards.[89]

Following the 2016 presidential election, Yellen gave a strong defense of the Dodd–Frank Act in her Joint Economic Committee testimony, standing in opposition to incoming President Donald Trump's plans to review the landmark legislation. She argued that it would be inappropriate to weaken or repeal the law designed to prevent a repeat of the global financial crisis.[90] Yellen provided further support for financial regulations enacted in the wake of the Great Recession in a speech to the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on August 25, 2017. In her remarks about the aftermath of the crisis, she said, "The balance of research suggests that the core reforms we have put in place have substantially boosted resilience without unduly limiting credit availability or economic growth." Yellen warned that any adjustment to the regulatory framework should be modest and preserve the increase in resilience.[91]

In November 2017, as Yellen's tenure as chair of the Federal Reserve was coming to an end, Trump considered nominating her for another term, but on the advice of his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, he picked a Republican Fed governor, Jerome Powell, instead.[92] Yellen made her resignation from the Federal Reserve Board at the conclusion of her chairmanship known after Trump's choice, despite still having her assignment as Fed governor until 2024.[93] She served a single term and became just the second Federal Reserve chair eligible for reappointment not renominated by a successor presidential administration, the first being Arthur F. Burns almost 40 years prior.[94] That unusual departure makes her the briefest-serving central bank chief since G. William Miller, who held that office for over a year, from 1978 to 1979.[95]

On February 2, 2018, Yellen enforced enormous sanctions on Wells Fargo, which was the third-largest U.S. bank at the time, with a consent order restricting the firm's expansion unless it resolved its internal issues.[96][97] That move came in response to a string of "widespread consumer abuses and compliance breakdowns" at the company, particularly a fake account scandal,[98] and marked the first time the Fed has imposed a cap on the entire assets of a financial institution.[97]

Regarding labor markets, Yellen has been dubbed one of the Federal Reserve System's most successful chairpersons. During her term, the unemployment rate dropped from 6.7 percent to 4.1 percent, the lowest in 17 years.[99][100][89] For the first time since central bank creation, the economy added jobs throughout every month of any Fed chair's tenure.[100] Yellen completed her time at the Fed with the lowest final unemployment rate of any Fed chair since William McChesney Martin in 1970.[101] Under her leadership, the U.S. unemployment rate fell more than during any other chair's term in the post-World War II era, declining 2.6 percentage points.[101] On the other hand, inflation remained below the Fed's annual two percent target, which led to the suggestion that the central bank could have done even more to bolster the economy without the risk of price increases.[102]

Yellen became the first person in U.S. central bank history to have served as a Federal Reserve chair (2014–2018), vice chair (2010–2014), district president (FRB of San Francisco, 2004–2010), Fed governor (1994–1997 and 2010–2018), and staff economist (1977–1978).[103]

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris receive an economic briefing from Treasury Secretary Yellen in the Oval Office, January 29, 2021

Following the 2020 presidential election, Yellen was routinely mentioned as a possible secretary of the treasury in the incoming Biden administration.[119][120] She edged out other top contenders to obtain the position, including Fed Board Gov. Lael Brainard and Roger W. Ferguson Jr., a former central bank vice chairman.[114][121]

On November 30, 2020, then-President-elect Biden announced he would nominate Yellen as Treasury Secretary in his cabinet.[122][123] In his remarks on the announcement, Biden lauded her as "one of the most important economic thinkers of our time" who "spent her career focused on employment and the dignity of work."[124] Despite being a highly respected figure across the political spectrum and expected to win confirmation easily, she was considered an unusual pick for the position because of her lack of experience in political maneuvering. Unlike her predecessors, she is viewed as more of an academic economist than a traditional politician used to horse-trading and dealmaking, qualities that could be critical to achieving the goals of Biden's economic agenda in a deeply partisan Congress.[125][126][127] All living former U.S. treasury secretaries, from George Shultz to Jack Lew, endorsed Yellen for the position in a bipartisan letter calling on the Senate to swiftly confirm her.[128]

The Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved Yellen's candidacy by a 26–0 vote on January 22, 2021.[129] The full U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination with a vote of 84–15 (with one abstention, Marco Rubio, R-FL)[130] on January 25.[131] With her oath of office administered by Vice President Harris the next day,[132] Yellen became the first female Secretary of the Treasury and the first person in American history to lead the three most powerful economic bodies in the federal government of the United States: the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and the White House Council of Economic Advisers.[3][131]

Only two other women within the G7 nations – France's Christine Lagarde and Canada's Chrystia Freeland – have held positions analogous to Yellen's as Treasury Secretary.[133]

Yellen meeting with German finance minister Olaf Scholz, July 2, 2021

In April 2021, Yellen proposed a global minimum corporate tax rate that would prevent profit shifting by multinational companies for tax avoidance.[134] In an accompanying written piece for The Wall Street Journal, she outlined the enormous benefits of the discussed tax system for the US economy as well as the global economy.[135] On June 5, 2021, finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) agreed to reinstate a minimum worldwide corporate tax rate of at least 15% as part of a landmark deal to modernize the international tax system, while France's Bruno Le Maire called it "a starting point" that could be increased in the future.[136] A few days later, Treasury Secretary Yellen co-wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post with four of her international counterparts, describing the new agreement as "an historic opportunity to end the race to the bottom in corporate taxation, restoring government resources at a time when they are most needed."[137] The next month, financial leaders from the G20 countries came to an agreement on plans to put an end to global tax havens, force multinational corporations to pay an appropriate share of tax wherever they operate, and create a "more stable and fair international tax architecture."[138]

In October 2021, more than 130 countries, accounting for more than 90% of global GDP, including several low-tax jurisdictions that had previously fought the pact, enforced through the OECD a landmark agreement to establish a global minimum tax rate of 15% for businesses worldwide. The projected gain from the deal, which was anticipated to take effect in 2023, may result in an increase of $150 billion in annual tax revenues. It is worth noting, however, that the treaty's implementation path remains uncertain because its ratification requires a two-thirds majority in the evenly divided U.S. Senate as well as passing domestic legislation in each of the signed countries.[139]

On July 23, 2021, Yellen sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders in which she urged lawmakers to increase or suspend the nation's debt limit as soon as possible before it hit its statutory limit in August and the government would be unable to pay its bills. She warned Congress that failing to meet those financial obligations would cause "irreparable harm" to the U.S. economy and that the Treasury Department would take "extraordinary measures" to prevent the United States from suffering a government shutdown or even a debt default.[140]

On September 19, 2021, Yellen, in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, again called for an increase in the debt ceiling; otherwise, sometime in October, the Treasury expected to exhaust its cash reserves, which would trigger a financial crisis.[141] After lawmakers adopted a short-term debt ceiling bill to raise the United States' borrowing limit through early December, she said that a longer-term measure should be provided to ensure certainty in government's solvency.[142] In November, Yellen expressed her willingness to consider solutions to the debt crisis without GOP support if necessary, using a budget reconciliation as a viable alternative.[143] She also supported the idea for Democrats to raise the debt limit high enough that it would not be reached until after the 2024 general elections while the party holds a majority in both houses of Congress, therefore preventing the issue from being weaponized for political reasons.[144]

In December 2021, President Biden signed a debt ceiling increase into law, preventing a U.S. default, a day after the Treasury's previously estimated deadline to address the issue. Congressional legislation designated to cover the government's financial commitments beyond the 2022 midterm elections was passed in a nearly party-line vote.[145]

In January 2023, after Republicans took control over the House, Yellen informed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and new congressional leadership that the U.S. expected to hit the debt ceiling on January 19 and that the Treasury yet again would be forced to use "extraordinary measures" to prevent default, and it could last until June of that year. She repeated her call to "act in a timely manner to increase or suspend the debt limit."[146] Yellen rejected the GOP plan on government payments prioritization once "extraordinary measures" are exhausted, insisting that her department doesn't have the systems to do so and that proposal effectively means a default.[147]

On June 3, 2023, President Biden signed into law bipartisan congressional legislation that suspended the public debt limit throughout his first term in office, therefore ending the ongoing debt-ceiling crisis. It came as a compromise on fiscal spending between the White House and House Republicans two days before the United States was estimated to reach the debt ceiling and subsequently could no longer meet its own financial obligations.[148]

In November 2021, Yellen and senior Treasury personnel were tasked with crafting a sanctions strategy that would maximize the costs inflicted on Russia's economy while limiting, if possible, the expected negative impact on the United States and its allies if a potential aggression began.[149] The Treasury Department worked closely across government agencies and with US allies abroad to impose unprecedented international sanctions in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.[149]

Yellen was a key proponent of a price cap on Russian oil, a plan designed to deprive the Kremlin of funding for Russia's war in Ukraine while reducing an inflation surge by preserving the global oil supply.[150] On December 2, 2022, following months of lobbying and negotiations by the United States, the emerging alliance of the G7 nations, the European Union, and Australia agreed to cap the price of Russian oil at $60 per barrel as an upper limit, with regular reviews to check that the ceiling stays at least 5 percent below average market prices.[151]

On April 7, 2022, at American University's Kogod School of Business Center for Innovation, Yellen addressed for the first time the growing impact of digital assets on the American economy. Yellen outlined policy objectives and lessons that apply to the navigation of emerging technologies, which include "first, the U.S. financial system benefits from responsible innovation; second, it's often society's vulnerable who suffer most in an economic crisis when regulation is not moving at the same pace as innovation; third, regulation should focus on activities and risk, not technology; fourth, sovereign money is the core of a functioning financial system; and fifth, it'll take thoughtful public and private dialogue between various groups to move forward."[152]

Yellen also announced possible plans for a government version of a stablecoin; the administration is studying the possibility of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or digital dollar while taking into consideration the impact of a CBDC on monetary policy, national security, and international trade, as well as its utility for consumers. Solving such problems is an "engineering challenge that would require years of development, not months," she said.[153]

In a speech delivered at the Atlantic Council on April 13, 2022, Yellen advised against the supply chain risks posed by reliance on commodities from countries that aligned with authoritarian regimes like Russia or China and favored friendshoring strategy, an approach that limits supply chain networks to allies and partner countries. She said that any moves from the other nations to undermine collective international effort to make Russia accountable for its aggression would draw the ire of the U.S. and its allies.[154] Yellen also called for the modernization of international financial institutions so that they could meet the world's 21st-century challenges, invoking precedent of the Bretton Woods Conference, which was held during the Second World War to discuss post-war economic order.[155]

In December 2022, Yellen wrote an essay for Project Syndicate in which she singled out the key risks for the U.S. economy that may be mitigated with the implementation of friendshoring policies. Those risks include: "first, over-concentration of critical goods in any particular market may result in vulnerability in supply chains that hurt workers and customers; second, the need to protect from geopolitical and security risks emanating from hostile states; and third, the need to shift away from supply chains that relied on violations of core human rights, such as the use of forced labour in producing goods for import."[156]

On May 10, 2022, during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Yellen made comments on the economic consequences of Roe v. Wade overturning after a leaked draft majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization showed the Supreme Court was poised to overrule its previous decisions that legalized abortion in the United States. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) asked what reversing the landmark ruling would mean economically for the United States; Yellen responded, "I believe that eliminating the right of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades." She added that keeping women from accessing abortions "increases their odds of living in poverty or need for public assistance." Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) disagreed with her assertion and said, "I think finding a way to have a debate around abortion in a meeting for the economic stability of our country is harsh." She replied, "This is not harsh. This is the truth."[157]

Following that heated exchange, Senator Scott penned an op-ed for The Washington Post in which he called Yellen's claim "simply false" and compared her arguments to those of Margaret Sanger in support of eugenics.[158] A number of prominent conservative media outlets and public figures alike similarly interpreted her comments on women's reproductive rights, responding with sharp criticism.[159]

After the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022, Yellen directed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to use $80 billion in additional funding over a decade to clear backlogs, improve taxpayer services, update technology, and hire thousands of new employees.[160]

In June 2023, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which was passed to reach a bipartisan agreement on debt ceiling, reallocated more than a quarter of the funding previously approved for IRS modernization to other budgetary areas. Despite that, Yellen assured that the agency still possesses the resources it needs in the near term to enhance service and ramp up enforcement. Furthermore, she said that the Treasury Department would continue to advocate for additional funds to make service improvements and help ensure that high-end taxpayers don't avoid paying their fair share.[161]

On February 27, 2023, Yellen made a surprise visit to Kyiv, in which she reaffirmed ongoing U.S. economic support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russia's invasion, including nearly $50 billion in security, financial, and humanitarian aid the federal government has provided over the past year as Ukraine's largest bilateral donor. She met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the country's prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, to discuss the rollout of about $1.25 billion in budget relief, the first of a $10 billion package of civilian assistance for things like schools, hospitals, and emergency services, among others.[162]

Coinciding with her visit, Yellen wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in which she highlighted the importance of America's support and repeated President Biden's message that Washington will stand with the Ukrainian people for as long as it takes. She said, "We cannot allow Ukraine to lose the war for economic reasons when it has shown an ability to succeed on the battlefield."[163]

On March 12, 2023, amidst the banking crisis, Yellen made an appearance on CBS' Face the Nation and affirmed that financial regulators closely monitored the state of the banking system to make sure it remained safe and well-capitalized. Addressing the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which marked the second-largest bank failure in American history at the time, she said she had been working with bank regulators to "design appropriate policies" to tackle the issue, though declining to provide further details. She stressed that the possibility of a bailout was off the table.[164] Despite her statement, on the same day, Yellen approved actions enabling the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to complete its resolution of Silicon Valley Bank in a manner that fully protects all depositors by announcing a systemic risk exception, with similar provisions being made for Signature Bank, another failed lender.[165] These extraordinary measures were taken to ensure confidence in the U.S. banking system and prevent spreading of a bank run.[166]

On March 21, Yellen delivered a speech to an American Bankers Association (ABA) summit in which she defended the forceful actions taken by regulators to avert a sweeping banking crisis and pledged resolute Biden administration support for lenders in need, regardless of their respective sizes. She said, "Our intervention was necessary to protect the broader U.S. banking system," and it was "not focused on aiding specific banks or classes of banks." Yellen went on to assure that "similar actions could be warranted if smaller institutions suffer deposit runs that pose the risk of contagion."[167]

Nevertheless, Yellen stated in her testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government the following day that the FDIC was not considering providing "blanket insurance or guarantees of deposits." She said uninsured bank deposits beyond the law-established $250,000 limit could be protected only if a failed bank was deemed to pose a systemic risk to the financial system, and that determination would occur only on a case-by-case basis by the regulators.[168]

On April 21, Yellen announced a proposal by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) for a new procedure to designate nonbank financial companies as systemically important financial institutions, subjecting them to Federal Reserve supervision. It marked an effective reversal of previous guidance, which was issued in 2019 under the Trump administration and, according to Yellen, "created inappropriate hurdles as part of the designation process." She said such a designation process "could take six years to complete, which could prevent the council from acting to address an emerging risk to financial stability before it's too late." The revised guidance relied on a quantitative and qualitative analysis under which the council determined whether "material financial distress at the company or the company's activities could pose a threat to U.S. financial stability" and allowed for ample engagement between regulators and the company under review.[169]

On May 18, the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) convened a meeting of more than two dozen bank CEOs to discuss the current state of the economy. Citing sources familiar with the matter, CNN Business reported on Yellen's remarks that more bank mergers may be necessary to overcome the sector's crisis.[170]

Yellen meet Premier Li Qiang

In a speech delivered at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies on April 20, 2023, Yellen laid out three principal objectives of the Biden administration's economic approach toward China. Those principles are: first, the paramount importance of securing American national security interests as well as protecting human rights; second, seeking healthy and fair economic competition with China based on international rules; and third, aiming to engage on major global challenges like easing the debt burden of the developing world and climate change.[171] Though she emphasized that national security would always take priority if it collided with economics, her address ought to be interpreted as an olive branch to Beijing instead of the confrontation that has for a long time prevailed in relations between the two nations. Yellen's speech attempted to revive dialogue, at least on economic matters, as she made clear her desire to visit China as soon as possible to get the countries' previously pragmatic approach to each other back on track. However, its ultimate success is not at all obvious.[172]

Between 6–9 July, Yellen visited China, the first trip to the country by a U.S. Treasury secretary in four years and her first since taking office. She began her visit by holding informal talks with the country's former vice premier Liu He, and People’s Bank of China (PBC) governor Yi Gang about the state of their domestic economies, as well as the global outlook, in a bid to reopen communication lines and find areas of common economic ground between the two nations.[173] Yellen then met with China's newly appointed economic team, including Premier Li Qiang, Vice Premier He Lifeng, finance minister Liu Kun, and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) central bank chief Pan Gongsheng. During those bilateral meetings, she reaffirmed that the US national security restrictions on Chinese investment were intended to be narrowly focused and not have broad effects on the country's economy.[174] Yellen also expressed concerns about Chinese economic policies and went on to criticize the country's authorities for their treatment of foreign, particularly American, companies; she stated, "We seek healthy economic competition that is not winner-take-all but that, with a fair set of rules, can benefit both countries over time."[175]

Overall, Yellen's visit was part of a broader push by the Biden administration to rebuild bridges between the two countries and open more lines of high-level communication with America’s main geopolitical rival, in particular with China's new economic leaders. In a press conference capping her four-day trip to Beijing, Yellen described it as a mission to revive engagement between the two largest economies and said she believes it has brought US-China ties closer to a "surer footing."[176]

• In March 2018, Charles D. Ellis endowed The Janet L. Yellen Chair at the Yale School of Management, which was named after her. Professor Andrew Metrick has been invested as the inaugural Janet L. Yellen Professor of Finance and Management at the School.[226]
• In December 2018, Federal Reserve Board presented an annual Janet L. Yellen Award for Excellence in Community Development to recognize the exemplary work of Federal Reserve System staff, intended to honor former chair Yellen's commitment to public service.[227] Ariel Cisneros of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has been named the first recipient of the newly created award.[228]
• Yellen has been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine four times. This occurred in the years 2014,[229] 2015,[230] 2017,[231] and 2023.[232] Additionally, she was named a runner-up for Time Person of the Year in 2022.[233]
• Yellen has been ranked on multiple occasions in Forbes magazine's list of the world's 100 most powerful women. She was named the second-most powerful woman in the world in 2014.[234] Forbes also ranked her several times on its list of the world's most powerful people. She was named the sixth-most powerful person in the world in 2014 and 2016.[235]

• Akerlof, George A.; Yellen, Janet L., eds. (October 31, 1986). Efficiency Wage Models of the Labor Market. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511559594. ISBN 978-0-521-31284-4.
• Blinder, Alan S.; Yellen, Janet L. (2001). The Fabulous Decade: Macroeconomic Lessons from the 1990s. New York: The Century Foundation Press. ISBN 0-87078-467-6. OCLC 47018413.

• Adams, William James; Yellen, Janet L. (August 1976). "Commodity Bundling and the Burden of Monopoly". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 90 (3): 475–498. doi:10.2307/1886045. JSTOR 1886045.
• Akerlof, George A.; Yellen, J. L. (January 1985). "A Near-Rational Model of the Business Cycle, with Wage and Price Inertia". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 100: 823–838. doi:10.1093/qje/100.Supplement.823. ISSN 0033-5533.
• Akerlof, George A.; Yellen, Janet L. (May 1990). "The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 105 (2): 255–283. doi:10.2307/2937787. JSTOR 2937787.

• Biography at the United States Department of the Treasury
• Biography at the Federal Reserve
• Clinton White House biography (archived)
• Expert profile at the Brookings Institution
• Faculty profile at the Haas School of Business
• Faculty profile at University of California, Berkeley

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Profile and papers at Research Papers in Economics
• Janet Yellen collected news and commentary at The Guardian