City profile

Janet Yellen

At 74, the former Federal Reserve chair is preparing for a “second act at the pinnacle of American economic policymaking”, said the FT. In a move that was mostly welcomed, Janet Yellen has been nominated by Joe Biden as the next US Treasury Secretary. Considered “smart, tough and principled”, she fits well with the president-elect’s “drive to fill his cabinet with competent institutionalists after the disruption created by Donald Trump”. Thanks to her four years at the Fed (2014-2018), she is a “wellknown quantity”. Trump even considered offering her a second term at the Fed, before demurring in favour of his own nominee. The president reportedly questioned whether Brooklynborn Yellen, who is 5ft 3in, was “too short” for the job.

Assuming her appointment is approved by the Senate, Yellen’s “résumé makes her a safe choice”, said Anna Szymanski on Reuters Breakingviews. But even with a vaccine in sight, she has her work cut out rebuilding the US economy. Perhaps her greatest strength is her ability to command a broad church, said The Economist: “both progressives and conservatives can find things to like”. Although she sits on the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, “which spends a lot of time warning about the dangers of high public debt”, she argued for “extraordinary fiscal support” during the pandemic. Passing another stimulus bill may be her first big task. “It is a lot to expect that the sheer force of one person could help break the deadlock” between Republicans and Democrats. “But if anyone can do it, it may be Ms Yellen.”