To me, a wise and humane policy is occasionally to let inflation rise even when inflation is running above target. – Janet Yellen
Academia is very flexible, but I had a spouse who was very committed to being a completely full partner in our marriage. I think if you counted up how many hours each one of us logged in, he certainly gets more than 50%. – Janet Yellen
It’s important for market participants to have a sense of how we think about the economy and the appropriate path of policy, to look at incoming data, and to form their own judgments as to whether or not changes in policy would be appropriate. – Janet Yellen
As always, it would be important to ensure that any fiscal policy changes did not compromise long-run fiscal sustainability. – Janet Yellen
An important factor influencing intergenerational mobility and trends in inequality over time is economic opportunity. – Janet Yellen
Uncertainty about sales impedes business planning and could harm capital formation just as much as uncertainty about inflation can create uncertainty about relative prices and harm business planning. – Janet Yellen
We’re charged by Congress with regulating financial institutions. We take that mission seriously. We are tough supervisors and regulators. – Janet Yellen
In my junior year, I studied geology on Saturday mornings at the Museum of Natural History. Mineralogy has always been a major interest. – Janet Yellen
Because food and energy prices are volatile, it is often helpful to look at inflation excluding those two categories – known as core inflation – which is typically a better indicator of future overall inflation than recent readings of headline inflation. – Janet Yellen
I am strongly committed to pursuing the dual goals that Congress has assigned us: maximum employment and price stability. – Janet Yellen
American workers have faced serious difficulties in the labor market since the first oil shock in 1973. Since that time, the pace of productivity advance has slowed for reasons which are still not understood, lowering the rate at which living standards have advanced. – Janet Yellen
Increased business sales would almost certainly raise the productive capacity of the economy by encouraging additional capital spending, especially if accompanied by reduced uncertainty about future prospects. – Janet Yellen
The trust institutions have in the marketplace, the confidence customers and suppliers and workers and employees have, are very important to a business’s effectiveness. – 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
Beyond monetary policy, fiscal policy has traditionally played an important role in dealing with severe economic downturns. – Janet Yellen
U.S. economic activity continues to expand, led by solid growth in household spending. But business investment remains soft, and subdued foreign demand and the appreciation of the dollar since mid-2014 continue to restrain exports. – Janet Yellen
We will watch very carefully what is happening in the economy and adjust policies appropriate. – Janet Yellen
We are focused on Main Street, on supporting economic conditions – plentiful jobs and stable prices – that help all Americans. – Janet Yellen
It seems to me that women have made an awful lot of progress, but they probably remain underrepresented at the highest levels of most organizations, for a variety of reasons. And it’s probably going to take a long time to change that. – 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
Our objective in regulation should be to put in place tough enough regulation and capital and liquidity standards that we level the playing field and make it costly. – Janet Yellen
The future path of the federal funds rate is necessarily uncertain because economic activity and inflation will likely evolve in unexpected ways. For example, no one can be certain about the pace at which economic headwinds will fade. More generally, the economy will inevitably be buffeted by shocks that cannot be foreseen. – Janet Yellen
Business students are very oriented to playing a role in the real world and accomplishing something, not training themselves to be scholars and contribute to the literature. Teaching in that kind of environment has focused me much more on the real world, how pieces of the theory I know can be applied to real-world situations. – Janet Yellen
Many financial innovations such as the increased availability of low-cost mutual funds have improved opportunities for households to participate in asset markets and diversify their holdings. – Janet Yellen
It certainly would be helpful going forward for deficit reduction efforts to focus on the medium term while not subtracting from the impetus we need to keep a fragile economy moving forward. – Janet Yellen
Our ability to predict how the federal funds rate will evolve over time is quite limited because monetary policy will need to respond to whatever disturbances may buffet the economy. – Janet Yellen
For decades, the pace of technological change in manufacturing has outstripped that in the economy as a whole. And, so, firms – manufacturing firms – have found it easier to continue producing by – with – reducing their workforces. – Janet Yellen
Household spending growth has been particularly solid in 2015, with purchases of new motor vehicles especially strong. Job growth has bolstered household income, and lower energy prices have left consumers with more to spend on other goods and services. – Janet Yellen
Firms are not always willing to cut wages, even if there are people lined up outside the gates to work. So why don’t they? – Janet Yellen