Janet Yellen quotes

Janet Yellen is an American economist and public official who has held several prominent positions, including Chair of the Federal Reserve and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Known for her expertise in monetary policy and labor economics, she has played a crucial role in shaping economic policy in the United States. She continues to influence global financial discussions and economic strategies. Here are 28 of her quotes:

Although most Americans apparently loathe inflation, Yale economists have argued that a little inflation may be necessary to grease the wheels of the labor market and enable efficiency-enhancing changes in relative pay to occur without requiring nominal wage cuts by workers.

Janet Yellen

[New classical economics] was the starting point for a rightward shift in economics that went against the idea that monetary policy can improve macroeconomic outcomes.

Janet Yellen

Economics is a subject that really relates to core aspects of human well-being, and there's a methodology for thinking about these things. This was a very appealing combination to me. Market systems are capable of massive breakdowns that can result in long, devastating periods of high unemployment. And I felt that economists had really learned something about how to address that.

Janet Yellen

I felt I wanted to talk about the Fed's mission, and I wanted to do so in understandable terms, and to emphasize that unemployment is part of our mission. The recession has taken a particularly heavy toll on those who have less education and income-middle-income and low-income families-and the Fed's concern with the job market is a theme I've wanted to get across. Why are we doing all these things that are in the newspapers all the time? I was trying to explain that we're doing this to help American families who are struggling in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Janet Yellen

One common way of judging whether housing's price is in line with its fundamental value is to consider the ratio of housing prices to rents. This is analogous to the ratio of prices to dividends for stocks.

Janet Yellen

My bottom line is that monetary policy should react to rising prices for houses or other assets only insofar as they affect the central bank's goal variables - output, employment, and inflation.

Janet Yellen

O. K., so what does standard new classical economics say? You should cut the wages of everybody who works for you. Because there are all the people standing outside the factory gates, and they have the same skill set as the people who work for you. You should at least be willing, according to this view, if not to hire them, to say to your own workers, ‘If you don't take a pay cut, I'm going to replace you with them.' But one goes around, actually talks to firms, and you'll find that no firm would do that.

Janet Yellen

It slightly worries me that when people find a problem, they rush to judgment of what to do.

Janet Yellen

In government institutions and in teaching, you need to inspire confidence. To achieve credibility, you have to very clearly explain what you are doing and why. The same principles apply to businesses.

Janet Yellen

Long-term unemployment can make any worker progressively less employable, even after the economy strengthens.

Janet Yellen

Inequality has risen to the point that it seems to me worthwhile for the U.S. to seriously consider taking the risk of making our economy more rewarding for more of the people.

Janet Yellen

Productivity growth, however it occurs, has a disruptive side to it. In the short term, most things that contribute to productivity growth are very painful.

Janet Yellen

In the long run, outsourcing is another form of trade that benefits the U.S. economy by giving us cheaper ways to do things.

Janet Yellen

Are deviations from full employment a social problem? Obviously.

Janet Yellen

I am anxious to fix welfare. There has to be more training and child care.

Janet Yellen

When you're unemployed for six months or a year, it is hard to qualify for a lease, so even the option of relocating to find a job is often off the table.

Janet Yellen

In 1977, when I started my first job at the Federal Reserve Board as a staff economist in the Division of International Finance, it was an article of faith in central banking that secrecy about monetary policy decisions was the best policy: Central banks, as a rule, did not discuss these decisions, let alone their future policy intentions.

Janet Yellen

Individuals out of work for an extended period can become less employable as they lose the specific skills acquired in their previous jobs and also lose the habits needed to hold down any job.

Janet Yellen

I'm just opposed to a pure inflation-only mandate in which the only thing a central bank cares about is inflation and not employment.

Janet Yellen

Firms don't just try to pay as little as possible to get the needed bodies on board; when there is unemployment, they ask themselves how wage cuts would affect the behavior of the employees. Would they quit or feel dissatisfied and work less hard on the firm's behalf if they feel that wage policies are unfair?

Janet Yellen

Strapped by tight credit and plummeting sales, businesses have overhauled the way they manage supply chains, inventory, production practices and staffing.

Janet Yellen

Stores don't order merchandise unless they think they can sell it right away. Manufacturers and builders don't produce unless they have buyers lined up. My business contacts describe this as a paradigm shift and they believe it's permanent.

Janet Yellen