Economics
Yellen Biographer Says Excerpts Mischaracterized Her Views
- Author comments after report on Treasury chief’s stimulus view
- Ullmann says Yellen shared her relief-plan concern with staff
Janet Yellen
Photographer: Valeria Mongelli/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The author of a forthcoming biography of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said excerpts of his volume mischaracterized her views on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bill and that she raised concerns about its size only with staff members.
Veteran Washington journalist Owen Ullmann wrote the book, “Empathy Economics,” based in part on extensive interviews with Yellen. An advance copy of the book obtained by Bloomberg News said the Treasury chief had worried last year that Biden’s American Rescue Plan might fuel inflation. Driven by that concern, Yellen “sought without success to scale back the $1.9 trillion relief plan by a third early in 2021,” Ullmann wrote.