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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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EMPATHY ECONOMICS

Owen Ullmann

Janet Yellen's Remarkable Rise to Power and Her Drive to Spread Prosperity to All

The trailblazing story of Janet Yellen, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg of economics.
In his work, Owen Ullmann documents Yellen's lifelong advocacy for an economics of empathy that delivers the fruits of a prosperous society to people of the bottom half of the economic ladder. Yellen's signature "empathy economics" is an idea whose time has come, necessary to address the widening inequality gap that poses a threat to the political stability of the United States. Further, the book provides timely insight into Yellen's role in shaping the policies of the Biden Administration during its first years.

Owen Ullmann's intimate portrait of the heart and mind of Yellen is the riveting story of one of the most remarkable careers of recent times. The ultimate glass-ceiling buster, Yellen is the first person to hold all three of America's top economic policy positions: Treasury Secretary (the first woman to hold the job), chair of the Federal Reserve and of the President's Council of Economic Advisers.

Yellen's sheer brilliance was certainly foundational, as has been her meticulous preparation for every job she has held in academia and government. What stands out, though, are the human qualities she has maintained in a Washington policy world where fierce intellectual combat casts others as either friend or enemy, never more so than in our current age of polarization. While her accomplishments are historic, humility and compassion are her trademarks, qualities instilled by her parents: a family doctor father who labored in working class Brooklyn, treating people whether they had the ability to pay or not, and a mother who preached the ethic of public service, perseverance and nothing less than perfection in every task.

As Ullmann vividly shows, empathy economics, the north star of Yellen's work as researcher, analyst, and policymaker stems from her early family life. Yellen has pushed back against the cold, abstract quality of a male-dominated economics profession that all too often pushes policies that benefit the already well-to-do. She has strived to remake it as a tool for shaping compassionate programs that help people find remedies for financial plights that stem from a lack of economic opportunity because of poverty, unemployment or job discrimination.

Owen Ullmann's five-decade career in journalism began as a reporter for The Elizabeth N.J. Daily Journal. More recently he has held senior management and editorial positions at USA Today. Prior to USA Today he spent six years at Business Week magazine, where he managed the Washington Bureau as senior news editor. From 1983 to 1993, he worked in the Washington Bureau of Knight-Ridder Newspapers, covering economics, the White House and the State Department. He won two awards from the White House Correspondents' Association for his coverage of the Reagan Presidency. Owen worked for the Associated Press from 1973 to 1983, as automotive writer in Detroit, and later as labor writer and chief economics correspondent in Washington. He currently serves as executive editor and Washington columnist for The International Economy, a quarterly magazine written for central bankers, finance ministers, financiers, and academics. He previously wrote a critically acclaimed biography of David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan's brilliant and brash budget director.
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Published 2022-09-27 by Public Affairs

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An admiring portrait... 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. Read more...

The New York Post published a story from the book, focusing on Yellen's time in the Clinton administration and her reactions to the Lewinsky scandal. Read more...

EMPATHY ECONOMICS by Owen Ullmann is a September nominee for the Next Big Idea Book Club! All nominated books will be shared with our Next Big Idea Club curators - Susan Cain, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink - who will narrow the list down to a handful of finalists and, ultimately, two official season selections. Read more...

Spotlighting Yellen's empathy, an emotion often missing from the arcane world of economic policy... This is an enlightening study of a trailblazing yet 'unassuming' public figure. Read more...

With extraordinary access to an extremely busy Janet Yellen as well her family, close friends, and colleagues, Owen Ullmann traces the path Yellen took from Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn to the highest rungs of the US government with exacting detail and insight. Ullmann reveals how Yellen overcame obstacles, outmaneuvered hostile men, and held onto all the values that led her to study economics in the first place - all to the great benefit of the American people. When you finish this book, you really know who Yellen is and why she has been so successful and influential.

Excerpt: 'Over My Dead Body': Janet Yellen Refused to Take a Dive for Trump - Behind the scenes of Trump's decision not to rename Yellen Fed chair, and what he really didn't like about her. ... Read more...

Few people have had as great an impact on America's economy as Yellen, the first woman to serve both as chair of the Federal Reserve and as treasury secretary. In Empathy Economics, Ullmann masterfully traces her rise from precocious Brooklyn schoolgirl to the corridors of power in Washington. Ullmann artfully weaves together Yellen's life and career, showing how her lived experience informed her view of economic policies that put American families at the forefront. This deeply human portrait brings to life one of the country's towering trailblazers, who is still paving the way for women in economics and beyond.

Empathy Economics is a terrific read, well researched, and well written.... The book also provides a fascinating history of the evolution of Federal Reserve policy during Yellen's leadership...

The New York Post published a story from the book, about the ending of Yellen's friendship with Carol Schwartz Greenwald, the first female assistant vice president of the Fed in Boston, who became a "rabid" Trump supporter. Read more...

Yellen Biographer Says Excerpts Mischaracterized Her Views... Read more...

Ullmann's excellent biography of Yellen documents the origins and trajectory of Yellen's remarkable career and what lies behind her success... Yellen's inspiring story of succeeding in a man's world to tweak economic policy at the highest levels and achieve positive outcomes for many is a good read...

Empathy Economics is a thorough, well-researched biography of Yellen's life and career, and also a crash course in the workings of the U.S. financial system... Readers will emerge with a greater understanding of not only Yellen herself, but the system which she has worked for many years to improve--and a deep appreciation of the empathy that informs her policy work and her entire life. Read more...