The qualifications for U.S. treasury secretary are not well defined. The last two confirmed holders of this office had vastly different backgrounds and experience in assessing economic and financial public policy issues.In my opinion, Stephen Mnuchin, Donald Trump’s treasury secretary, had weak credentials for the position. He often seemed ill‐prepared to discuss policy issues, particularly early in his tenure. The Wall Street Journal editorial page predicted that would be the case in December 2016, describing him as an “underwhelming” nominee who was a “newcomer to political or policy debates.”In contrast, current secretary Janet Yellen had decades of qualifying experience with many of the significant issues of domestic and international economic and financial policy. But as we look back on her long career, has she been on the right side of these policy discussions?
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