This is what you need to know about the female team Joe Biden is putting together

We should welcome the new team supporting Joe Biden: these are decent and competent people, writes Hamish McRae

Janet Yellen, the economics professor who served as chair of the Federal Reserve Board from 2014 to 2018 (Getty)

Joe Biden is putting together a very good team and that is a huge relief for people on both sides of the Atlantic.  

There are two key qualities to look for when hiring people for any job: loyalty and competence. You need loyalty because you have to have people who will stick around rather than jump to a competitor after a few months, taking what they have learnt about your business to a rival. And you need competence because without that you are done for. Things will inevitably go wrong and you won’t have the people who can fix them.  

Donald Trump’s administration prioritised loyalty, though several key people turned out to be less than loyal. Competence was less prized, and while some appointments – such as that of treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin – worked out well, many others did not.  

Joe Biden, from what we know, for these are early days, is going for both: people who will of course be aligned with the president-elect’s values, but equally, people who are likely to be very good at their jobs. There are two areas where there are strong signals: financial and economic policy, and communications. Some words about each.  

Janet Yellen, the economics professor who served as chair of the Federal Reserve Board from 2014 to 2018, is a great appointment at the Treasury. She is 74, hugely experienced, and a safe pair of hands. She is a very good economist (her doctorial thesis was outstanding), but, unlike too many academics, she is also sensitive to what works in human and market terms.

US fiscal policy is determined as much by Congress as by the president, so if, as seems probable, the Republicans retain control of the Senate, having someone who is able to present on the basis of logic rather than ideology will be very important to get things done. Her record at Congressional hearings while in post at the Fed was one of calm persuasiveness.  

She will need that. Her first task will be to get through the necessary fiscal support to aid the recovery; her longer-term one, to get the US budget deficit back under control. Those are two huge undertakings.  

The other key choice is Cecilia Rouse, dean of the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton, to be chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. The nomination has inevitably attracted attention because she is African-American, the first to take the post. The key skill she brings, aside from having run a department well, is that she is a labour market economist, with a particular interest in what causes inequality. That is something US policy has to tackle, whatever your political views.  

Also important for the future direction of fiscal policy will be Neera Tanden, currently chief executive of the Centre for American Progress, a liberal think-tank in Washington, who becomes head of the Office of Management and Budget. She is a more controversial choice as she has over the years made some enemies in Congress, so there may be difficulty getting her nomination confirmed.  

There are several other nominations, but let’s pause for a moment: three women in key economic positions? That is interesting, isn’t it? This says two things. One is that Biden wants to make a political signal, underlined by his choice for vice-president: women can reach the top in a US administration. It is a signal to America, and it is a signal to the world. The other is that makes it clear, and will make it more clear when the team in in post, that there is a huge pool of competence among the 50.52 per cent of Americans who are female – and that is an economic message to the world, too.

Now look at communications. That has also attracted attention on gender grounds, for it is an all-female top team. There are two particularly important names. Kate Bedingfield will be the White House communications director, and Jen Psaki will be Biden’s press secretary.  

Kate Bedingfield has worked with Joe Biden over the years in a number of capacities, including being his communications director in 2015 when he was vice-president. She knows how the White House works and of course she knows how Joe Biden works. This is just what they need. Jen Psaki is a really good appointment, too. She will become the public face of the president to the press. She has worked in various Democrat roles, as well in other jobs in Washington, and her alignment with the president’s values is not in question. But she brings other qualities. She is a very good manager, loyal and supportive of the people who work with her. I have very positive reports on that. And she is extremely nice. 

I don’t think it is right for foreigners to take sides in American politics, any more than it is right for them to take sides in ours. But what happens in the US is of profound importance to the world. So we should welcome the new team supporting Joe Biden, and acknowledge that, so far, this is most encouraging: these are decent and competent people.