Prominent women in finance disagree with $10 redesign

EVEN as Alexander Hamilton is celebrated in a hit Broadway musical, he soon may have to share his space on the $10 (R129.55) bill with a woman. Not so fast, says a surprising group: prominent women in economics and finance.

Abby Joseph Cohen, the president of Goldman Sachs’ Global Markets Institute, and Carmen Reinhart, a Harvard University professor, said Hamilton shouldn’t be diminished on the currency. They joined a chorus of observers this month who want the Treasury Department to put a female image on the $20 note instead.

“There should not be a woman – or anyone else – on the $10 bill because Alexander Hamilton deserves to retain his place,” Reinhart said. “Hamilton is a towering figure in American finance and his success offers the positive role model that a penniless Caribbean immigrant can change the course of world events.”

The Obama administration announced earlier this year that it would put a woman on the $10 bill because that note is next in line for a redesign and needs more protection against counterfeiting. The new currency will appear in 2020 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment that extended voting rights to women.

Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew has held roundtable discussions with students at New York University’s Robert F Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and community members in North Carolina. – Bloomberg