• AEA in the news
  • January 26, 2021

AEA congratulates Janet Yellen on becoming treasury secretary

Fed chair Janet Yellen presents the Monetary Policy Report in 2016.

Federal Reserve

The American Economic Association congratulates past AEA president Janet L. Yellen on her confirmation this week as treasury secretary of the United States. Yellen is the first woman to hold the position in the Treasury’s 232-year history. Yellen’s research has covered a wide range of issues but largely focused on unemployment and labor markets, monetary policy, and international trade. Over the course of her distinguished career, Yellen has worked in various capacities for the Federal Reserve Board, including serving as its chair from 2014-2018. She is a professor at the University of California at Berkeley where she has been a faculty member since 1980. She was AEA president in 2020 and most recently worked as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.