How Janet Yellen could shake up Wall Street

Whether you love or hate her, Janet Yellen's appointment to the top job at the Federal Reserve would cause an almighty stir.

In 1976, Janet Yellen was teaching macroeconomics at Harvard. One of her students was Larry Summers, "a young man already gaining a reputation for brilliance", says the Financial Times. Thirty-seven years on, lecturer and student have a very different relationship. They are neck-and-neck in a race for the most powerful financial job in the world.

A few months ago, Yellen (currently number two at the Fed) was seen as a shoo-in for the chair when Ben Bernanke leaves in January. But Summers has been lobbying so effectively that he's seen by some as President Barack Obama's "first choice", says The Times. A controversial figure at the best of times (see below), opponents have mounted a concerted Stop Larry' campaign. That's left Yellen demoted in the public debate to a cipher, says Bloomberg: the homely-looking woman with white hair and rosy cheeks, who is the only thing standing between Summers and the Fed.

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