Yellen Becomes Biden-Harris Daily Economics Teacher... Appears to Discuss Economic Disparities Between Races

Harvard Professor Raj Chetty Highlights 'Interracial Inequality' - University of Michigan Professor Lisa Cook Also Attends

Janet Yellen, former Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) [Photo by Reuters]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunjin Jeong] Janet Yellen, former Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), has become the daily economics tutor for Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris. As the Biden campaign highlights racial discrimination as a core issue, it is expected to focus on racial economic inequality in its economic policies as well.

According to Bloomberg and other sources on the 13th (local time), Biden and Harris met with former Chair Yellen via video conference to receive an economic briefing. Attending the briefing were former Chair Yellen, Professor Raj Chetty (Harvard University), Professor Lisa Cook (University of Michigan), Biden campaign economic advisors Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey, and Biden’s chief policy advisor Jake Sullivan.

The specific content of Yellen’s briefing was not disclosed, but Biden stated that one of the briefing topics was the economic gap between races. Yellen, an expert in labor economics and a representative "dove" (favoring monetary easing), focused on unemployment during her tenure, suggesting that the Biden campaign is interested in inequality issues.

Besides Yellen, Professor Chetty, who also attended the briefing, is recognized as a public policy expert of Indian immigrant background. He has gained academic attention for demonstrating that "excellent teachers can increase children's college enrollment rates and income in the long term." Based on this, former President Obama promoted free kindergarten education. Professor Cook, a leading African American female economist in the U.S., also proved the impact of social violence against African Americans on patent application activities.

However, neither Yellen nor the other attendees officially endorsed Biden. A Biden campaign official stated that only Bernstein and Boushey are official advisors, while Yellen and the others attended the briefing as experts.

The attention given to the briefing attendees is because those who generally work as campaign aides in presidential elections often enter the administration after winning. During the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump’s economic aides James Mnuchin, Larry Kudlow, and Peter Navarro currently hold key government positions. Additionally, Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of Blackstone Group, was called Trump’s "economic and financial tutor," and media mogul Rupert Murdoch and real estate developer Richard LeFrak were also reported to have advised him. At that time, the New York Times (NYT) reported that most of Trump’s advisors were older white men.

Throughout his first term, President Trump focused on economic growth and recently introduced independent economic stimulus measures such as payroll tax deferral, striving to revive the economy hit by COVID-19. He also announced plans to permanently eliminate the payroll tax if re-elected.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.