Janet L. Yellen’s Speeches

Good afternoon, everyone. I was very pleased to receive your invitation to speak to the Rotary Club of Reno, because it gives me a chance to visit an important part of our District and to meet with area businesspeople. The Federal Reserve places a high priority on communication, and I definitely see that as a two-way street. Although I anticipate holding the floor for a full half hour, I am also very interested in hearing your observations on economic conditions, both nationally and locally. My remarks today will center on recent developments affecting employment, output, and inflation in the U.S. economy […]

Good afternoon, everyone. It’s a pleasure to be here in Scottsdale, and it’s a special pleasure to have the chance to speak before the Arizona Council on Economic Education. As President of the San Francisco Fed, I wholeheartedly support the role our Bank plays as a “key partner” in your efforts. The San Francisco Fed and, I should add, the whole Federal Reserve System, place high priority on economic education and our partnership with the Council is part of a range of programs and activities to inform and instruct the public on economic issues. The Fed’s emphasis on economic education reflects […]

Good afternoon, and thank you very much for inviting me to deliver this year’s Economics of Governance Lecture.1 My topic today will be the performance of the U.S. economy, with a focus on how trends for the economy as a whole—in other words, at the macro level—have been playing out for our nation’s individuals and families. One area I’d like to focus on in particular is how the income that has been generated by our economy over the past three decades or so has been distributed among the various income groups, from the top to the bottom. Questions of income inequality, of […]

Good afternoon, everyone. It’s a pleasure to speak before the Hong Kong Association of Northern California today. In my remarks, I plan to give you my sense of where the U.S. economy and inflation are headed and to draw out the implications for monetary policy. Though I do not plan to discuss the economies of Hong Kong or Asia in general in this context, I do want to assure you that they remain very much a focus of the Bank’s attention. In our Economic Research Department, we have the long-established Center for Pacific Basin Studies, and in our Supervision and Regulation […]

Good morning, everyone, and many thanks for inviting me to join you at this outstanding conference. It’s always a pleasure for me to have the chance to meet with community and regional bankers in the District. It’s also an opportunity, because getting to know your unique perspectives on conditions in your industry and in the economy helps inform my own decisions in both the supervisory area and in monetary policymaking. When I joined the San Francisco Fed two years ago, I was very glad to see how seriously our staff takes its responsibility for supervising community banks. To my mind, your […]

Thanks, Tom, for the very kind introduction. Good afternoon, everyone. It’s a real pleasure to be here in “my own backyard,” so to speak. I was delighted that the Chamber invited me to be part of your annual Outlook Conference, and I thank you all for coming. As you may know, next week the Federal Open Market Committee meets in Washington, D.C. The Committee is charged with setting the nation’s monetary policy to achieve its dual mandate of maximum sustainable employment and price stability. Naturally, I’m now in the midst of preparations for that meeting, so my focus today will be […]

Good afternoon. I’m delighted to be with you today. I’d like to start by saying how much I appreciate the very warm welcome we’ve received here, especially from many of our past and present Directors. They have done a great job of arranging for us to see some of the highlights of your beautiful city. High on the list, of course, was the Basque Museum, which reflects the many cultural and economic contributions Basque immigrants and their descendants have made to this area and, indeed, to the nation. Unfortunately, that tour was scheduled during our Board meeting, so I had to […]

Thank you very much for inviting me to join you. It’s a real pleasure to be part of this outstanding speakers series. Today I will discuss my views on the prospects for the U.S. economy—for labor markets and economic activity and also for inflation. This focus mirrors the two main objectives for monetary policy enunciated in the Federal Reserve Act, namely maximum employment and price stability. I plan to explore the implications of these developments for monetary policy. Then, of course, I would welcome your questions and comments. Before I begin, let me note that my remarks represent my own views […]

My topic tonight is globalization and the conduct of U.S. monetary policy. At issue is whether globalization has altered the inflation process in the United States and, if so, whether such changes impair the Fed’s ability to assess the state of the economy or to conduct monetary policy to achieve its dual objectives of price stability and full employment. Proponents of the view that globalization has affected U.S. inflation commonly claim that it has resulted in disinflationary pressures over the last decade. For example, Alan Greenspan made precisely this argument in Congressional testimony last year, citing the massive new “army” of workers that […]