Janet L. Yellen’s Speeches

I want to congratulate the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston for organizing a fascinating and thought-provoking conference. I applaud the Bank’s decision to establish a center to promote and support research in behavioral economics and concur wholeheartedly with the judgment that motivates these initiatives—that research in behavioral economics is broadening and enriching our understanding of decisionmaking. This research has the potential to strengthen the conceptual and empirical underpinnings of macroeconomic policy. The Federal Reserve is one of a growing number of organizations that have already taken some implications of behavioral research to heart. This year, we began to automatically enroll new […]

Good morning. It’s my pleasure to welcome you to this beautiful city. I’m delighted that NABE chose to have its national meeting here, and I’m especially pleased to have been invited to speak to you today. As some of you may know, I occasionally use colorful language to describe the economy. Certainly, the events in financial markets over the past couple of months have generated their share of it. But I believe these are times when there is particularly great value in speaking deliberately, keeping a cool head, conducting careful analyses, and closely monitoring emerging developments. So those considerations will be […]

Good afternoon, everyone. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to speak to you today. This is my first trip to Alaska as the President of the San Francisco Fed, and, in preparation, I reviewed some of the economic statistics about this region. The numbers say that local employment has been growing at a healthy clip this year, especially in the travel and tourism sector. As a policymaker, it is very nice for me to be able to have those statistics come to life, seeing firsthand the vigor of the economy in Anchorage. As a tourist, I’m glad to be doing my […]

Good afternoon, everyone. It’s a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to the inaugural research conference of the Risk Management Institute, a joint effort of U.C. Berkeley and the National University of Singapore. I’m especially gratified that the San Francisco Fed is cosponsoring this event with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. My invitation to speak to you today was tendered by Andy Rose, who was my colleague and coauthor when I was at U.C. Berkeley, so, naturally, I was delighted to accept. I last was in Singapore in 1995, to attend the Monetary Authority’s 25th birthday celebration. My memories of […]

Good afternoon. I’m delighted to take part in today’s program honoring my long-time friend, coauthor, and former colleague, Rachel McCulloch. In my remarks today, I would like to focus on some aspects of the global economy that are salient to me from the standpoint of monetary policy. On the one hand, there is much that is heartening. World economic growth has been robust during the last few years and, in 2006, according to the IMF’s summary measure, performance was extraordinarily strong—the best in both overall and per capita terms since the early 1970s. China and India both grew at a blistering […]

Good evening, everyone. It’s a pleasure to be here with you. I know that the Money Marketeers have a long and rich history, and I’m honored to be among the many distinguished speakers who have addressed you over the years. Tonight I plan to discuss the prospects for the U.S. economy. I’d like to return to a theme that I discussed in a speech a few months ago and that has been on my mind ever since. It concerns a puzzling economic development. The puzzle, as I put it then, was: Why is the labor market apparently going gangbusters, while growth […]

Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Janet Yellen, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. I would like to thank Greenlining for inviting me to speak at this year’s Economic Summit. Before I begin, I would just like to add my own words of congratulations to Luis Arteaga, Erin Pak, and Cory Jasperson. It is heartening to see their commitment to improving the well-being of low-income and minority communities, as well as to hear about the range of innovative strategies and programs that are needed to accomplish lasting change. In my remarks today, I would like to speak to […]

Good afternoon, everyone. It’s a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to you today. My remarks will center on recent developments affecting the U.S. economy and what they may portend for the future and especially for the conduct of monetary policy. I will spend some time focusing on housing markets, since they may play a key role in determining which direction economic activity and inflation will head over the rest of this year. Before I begin, let me note that my comments represent my own views and not necessarily those of my colleagues in the Federal Reserve System. As you […]

Good afternoon, everyone. It’s a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group today. I owe a debt of gratitude to Ken Wilcox for facilitating the invitation. As you may know, Ken serves on the San Francisco Fed’s Head Office Board of Directors, having recently been elected to a second term. He and the other Directors, not only at the Head Office, but also at our Branch offices, play an important role in the formulation of monetary policy. Of course, the emphasis of our policy analysis and our policy decisions must be on what serves the […]

Good afternoon. On behalf of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Asia Society of Southern California and the Pacific Council on International Policy, I’m delighted to welcome you all here. This is the first in a series of presentations, seminars, and conferences the San Francisco Fed will be involved with over this year as we explore various facets of the Asian financial crisis, focusing on the stability and resiliency of financial sectors today and remaining challenges in the future. At the time of the crisis, I was the Chair of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, and, as you […]