yellenThis year, Ben Bernanke will leave his post as Federal Reserve Chairman and many are looking to Vice Chair Janet Yellen as a likely successor. If she becomes the next Fed Chairman, it won’t be a gender choice. It will be a wise business choice, even if she is the first woman to fill a role held by men for 100 years.

That is the general sentiment of 45 female economists who recently responded to a CNN Money questionnaire. The questions posed were:

  • Which of these two top contenders is their preferred candidate for Federal Reserve chair?
  • Will gender have anything to do with the decision?

“Of the 45 economists who responded to our survey, 38 said Yellen should get the job, and one wrote-in that she would like former Fed chair Paul Volcker to return to the post,” says Annalyn Kurtz who summarized the results in a CCN article titled Female economists: Pick Janet, but leave gender out of it!” “The remaining six participants declined to make a recommendation; with some noting they felt both Yellen and Summers were qualified for the job.”

One of the respondents fully supports Summers, Kurtz notes.

Before her current role, Yellen was president of the San Francisco Fed. A graduate of Yale University and Brown University, she served as chair of President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. She holds vast academic experience from her long-standing tenure at the University of California Berkeley Haas Business School. She has also taught at Harvard and the London School of Economics. Yellen is viewed as an accurate Fed forecaster.1

A graduate of Harvard and MIT, Summers is a former Treasury Secretary, serving under President Clinton. He also served as Director of the White House United States National Economic Council for President Obama and helped craft the 2009 Stimulus package. He is renowned for having been the 27th President of Harvard University. At the Fed, he is viewed as more controversial than Yellen.

“’Yellen is a qualified monetary economist with significant experience within the Fed system. Her appointment is less likely to rock markets in the transition period,’ said one survey participant,” writes Kurtz. “Summers’ position on monetary policy is not quite as well known, but he has recently made critical comments about the Fed’s bond-buying program, known as quantitative easing.”2

Then there’s an observation out there that Yellen could leave altogether if she’s not chosen – and what the Fed’s composition would look like without her. 3 Without her and Benanke, the Fed’s current seven seasoned members could be left with Jeremy Stein, Daniel Tarullo and five new members. Bernanke’s term ends in January. We’ll just have to wait and see.


[1] Ro, S. Business Insider. The Fed Is at Risk of Losing Janet Yellen Altogether. Available at sinsider.com/janet-yellen-could-leave-if-larry-summers-becomes-fed-chair-2013-8. Accessed August 7, 2013.

[2] Kurtz, A. CNN Money. Female economists: Pick Janet, but leave gender out of it. Available at http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/04/news/economy/fed-women-yellen/index.html Accessed August 7, 2013.

[3] Ro, S. Business Insider. The Fed Is at Risk of Losing Janet Yellen Altogether. Available at sinsider.com/janet-yellen-could-leave-if-larry-summers-becomes-fed-chair-2013-8. Accessed August 7, 2013.

 

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