Empathy economics : Janet Yellen's remarkable rise to power and her drive to spread prosperity to all /

Journalist Ullmann (Stockman) delivers a comprehensive biography of Janet Yellen, the first person to have achieved the "trifecta" of economic policymaking, serving as chair of the Federal Reserve, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, and Secretary of the Treasury. Spotlighting Yellen's empathy, an emotion often absent from the arcane world of economic policy, Ullmann notes that she has endeavored to prioritize the economic concerns of Main Street over Wall Street by focusing on achieving full employment--even if it risks inflation. Yellen has also spoken up on behalf of the nearly one-third of Americans with criminal records, highlighting how a "strong job market" can help them find employment and build careers. The biographical details, including Yellen's affluent childhood as the daughter of a Brooklyn physician, her introduction to economics as a freshman at Brown University's Pembroke College, and her marriage to Nobel Prize winner George Akerlof, portray a woman who has rarely, if ever, made a misstep, personally or professionally. At times, Ullmann's portrait would benefit from a more critical eye, but he has amassed a wealth of details and lucidly explains complex economic theories and policies. This is an enlightening study of a trailblazing yet "unassuming" public figure. (Sept.)

The life of a dedicated public figure in the often dismal world of economics. Veteran journalist and news editor Ullmann draws on 150 interviews with Yellen; her husband, economist and Nobel laureate George Akerlof; their son, economics professor Robert Akerlof; and Yellen's many friends and colleagues to create an admiring portrait of a woman that he--and many others--compares to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Born in 1946, Yellen is the daughter of a physician whose caring and generosity made a lasting impact on her. "Thinking about the plight of the unemployed, their pain, their economic insecurity, and how they must feel," Ullmann writes, "has been part of Yellen's makeup since her father treated so many down-on-their-luck patients." As the author demonstrates throughout, empathy informs her thinking about issues such as interest rates, banking regulations, unemployment, inequality, and gender bias. In a field dominated by men, Yellen encountered sexism most overtly in her six years teaching at Harvard. After graduate school at Yale, mentored by the like-minded James Tobin, Yellen found Harvard cold and hostile. She left happily in 1977 for a position as staff economist in the international division of the Federal Reserve. After marrying Akerlof the following year, the couple taught at the London School of Economics and then at Berkeley. Yellen was praised for being a clear, accessible professor, and her 23-year career in academia ended when President Bill Clinton appointed her to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in 1994 and as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors in 1997. Although bristling at the "old boys' environment" of the Clinton White House, Yellen stood out as earnest, dedicated, unassuming, honest, and frank. All of these qualities served her when she succeeded Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve Chair and, most lately, as the first female secretary of the treasury. Ullmann explains clearly the economic crises, decisions, and controversies that have marked Yellen's storied career. A warmly sympathetic, authoritative biography of a true public servant. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.