Monday, April 8, 2013

Women and Central Banks


Check out this article by CNN Money talking about central banks and women.  In generally central banks have been traditionally led by men, but it looks like it might be time for a change.  As stated by the article, Russia has made the move of appointing a female to head their central bank...

"Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin nominated Elvira Nabiullina to be the next head of the country's central bank. When she takes the post later this year, she will be the first female to head a central bank in any of the G8 countries."

In regards to the United States, it has been mentioned that Janet Yellen is a popular next pick for the head of the FED if Bernanke was to step down in January.  Yellen believes that overtime we will be seeing an increase in women at central banks.  What do you think about the article?  Would you be in favor of Yellen if she was to the head of FED.  Why are why not?

4 comments:

  1. I would absolutely be in favor of Yellen as head of the FED. I personally don't see any reason that a woman would be less capable than a man in such a position. I find this issue similar to the imbalance seen in politics in that the US has never had a woman president. The article mentions that a third of all Ph.D economists are now women, compared to a political statistic stating only 18.1% of congress is made up of women (http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/levels_of_office/Congress-CurrentFacts.php). If these statistics can be compared, is it only a matter of time before we elect a female president?

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  2. I would be in favor of Yellen being the head. I don't see any difference between her being the head rather than Bernanke. It is also interesting to see that Russia is the first of the G8 countries to have a female head their central bank.

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  3. I don't think it should come down to gender. The highest qualified person should get the job. If that's Yellen then yes, if not, then no.

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  4. I agree with Shane. I also wouldn't have expected Russia to be the first G8 country to have a woman as the head of their central bank. I don't have any idea of Russian culture so my assumption of them being another clearly male dominated society must be wrong. Then again, they did have Catherine the Great as their ruler long ago.

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