Approach of a pure economist, almost theoretical, more interested in the real economy than in the financial repercussions, and even more distant from political dynamics. For this Janet Yellen, 67, from Brooklyn, wife of Nobel laureate in economics George Akerlof, currently vice president of the Fed and in the process – according to most – of succeeding Ben Bernanke, is described as "a dove", and as such less likely to support a hike in federal interest rates, compared, for example, to another candidate, the "hawk" William Poole.
Appreciated by the majority of colleagues interviewed by the US press on her probable appointment, Ben Bernanke's current number two, despite belonging to the Democratic Party since the 90s (when she became Bill Clinton's economic adviser), however, does not seem to completely convince Barack Obama, who would have preferred Larry Summers, who later withdrew from the race, and who already renewed Bernanke's mandate in 2010 when many rumors were already suggesting a possible change at the top of the American Central Bank, where he was then appointed deputy.
Federal Reserve in which the professor Yellen has imposed a whole new style on the vice presidency, a break from predecessors Donald Kohn and Roger Ferguson, just as his most important armchair approach should be breaking (and this is perhaps what worries the White House), i.e. less expansive towards the banking system. Indeed, while Kohn and Ferguson (also being polled by Obama these days) acted as trusted deputies, helping Bernanke and Greenspan manage the sprawling Fed system, Yellen, who bucking the trend also loves have lunch in the cafeteria with the rest of the staff and chat about the economy in the corridors as she used to do as a teacherInstead, he acted more as an independent force within the agency, trying to persuade Bernanke and the rest of the committee to support more aggressive measures to pump money into the real economy and bring down unemployment.
He also prevented the Washington institute from getting too bogged down in the political fray, avoiding as much as possible testifying before Congress (he did it once in his three years as vice president), while Kohn, for example, did so for six times in his last three years on the job. After all, it was understood that politics was not Mrs Yellen's favorite field as early as 1997, when the then President Bill Clinton appointed her number one on the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA): the professor applied the principle of "market-based solutions to political problems" to the letter, moreover required by that type of assignment. In this regard, the The Washington Post recalls that when Clinton, in agreement with Europe, wanted to set particularly restrictive pollution reduction targets, Yellen was concerned to remind that the move would have damaged the manufacturing industry and threatened the country's economic progress.
Meanwhile, for the country's progress, the appointment of the next head of the Fed is no small matter: Janet Yellen could become the first woman to lead the American central bank, inheriting a $4 trillion budget and Quantitative Easing tapering, i.e. the curtailment of the $85 billion a month US securities purchase program initiated by Bernanke and which is now being terminated. Precisely because of her different approach and her "dovish", conciliatory qualities, she is considered by many to be the most suitable person to manage this type of operation, which in turn is a break with the last period of her predecessor's mandate.
The game, however, is still open. “For the calendar we are still in summer” the spokesman of the White House, Jay Carney, said crypticly, suggesting that Obama will pronounce himself in the autumn and that is not before next Sunday, when autumn will officially take over from summer. And when Bernanke could be replaced, still in contention, in addition to the aforementioned Kohn and Ferguson, also by the Clintonite Alan Blinder and the former Treasury minister Tim Geithner, a key man in Obama's first term. But there is also another suggestive hypothesis, which is the secret dream of the White House: to convince Bernanke to stay for another two years. A Republican, nominated by George W. Bush, confirmed by a Democrat to protect himself from accusations. But this would really be a twist.
