Fed Chair Choices

Her career has been intertwined with those of Christina D. Romer, who led Mr. Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers at the beginning of his first term, and Laura D’Andrea Tyson, who held the same job under President Clinton and later served as the director of the White House economic policy committee.

But no woman has climbed to the very top of the hierarchy to serve as Fed chairwoman or Treasury secretary.

Ms. Yellen’s chief rival for Mr. Bernanke’s job, Lawrence H. Summers, is a member of a close-knit group of men, protégés of the former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, who have dominated economic policy-making in both the Clinton and the Obama administrations.

Ms. Yellen’s chief rival for Mr. Bernanke’s job, Lawrence H. Summers, is a member of a close-knit group of men, protégés of the former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, who have dominated economic policy-making in both the Clinton and the Obama administrations.

Mr. Bernanke’s successor must lead the Fed’s fractious policy-making committee in deciding how much longer and how much harder it should push to stimulate growth and seek to drive down the unemployment rate.

Mr. Bernanke’s successor must lead the Fed’s fractious policy-making committee in deciding how much longer and how much harder it should push to stimulate growth and seek to drive down the unemployment rate.

Ms. Yellen’s selection would be a vote for continuity: she is an architect of the Fed’s stimulus campaign and shares with Mr. Bernanke a low-key, collaborative style.

Ms. Yellen’s selection would be a vote for continuity: she is an architect of the Fed’s stimulus campaign and shares with Mr. Bernanke a low-key, collaborative style.

But the choice also is roiling Washington because it is reviving longstanding and sensitive questions about the insularity of the Obama White House and the dearth of women in its top economic policy positions.

But the choice also is roiling Washington because it is reviving longstanding and sensitive questions about the insularity of the Obama White House and the dearth of women in its top economic policy positions.

But the choice also is roiling Washington because it is reviving longstanding and sensitive questions about the insularity of the Obama White House and the dearth of women in its top economic policy positions.

As word circulated in recent days that the president was seriously considering Mr. Summers, Ms. Yellen’s supporters have rushed forward to bolster her candidacy.

Mr. Summers’s supporters are making less noise in public, partly because some of his primary advocates are inside the White House, while Ms. Yellen’s primary advocates mostly appear to be on the outside looking in.

That is not unusual for a top Fed official in Ms. Yellen’s position — her predecessors also spent little time at the White House — but it is significant for a president who has often placed a premium on nominating people he knows.

Mr. Bernanke, by contrast, was plucked from his job as a Fed governor to work as chairman of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers before being nominated as Fed chairman.

Women have held a number of top economic policy positions within the administration during Mr. Obama’s tenure.

Numerous current and former administration officials have described the world as cloistered.

A series of women who have worked alongside those men have ended their tenures saying that they felt excluded and ignored.

Several former administration officials, who spoke about personnel policy only on the condition of anonymity, strongly disputed the idea that the White House was institutionally sexist, that Mr. Obama did not value the promotion of women or that women were excluded because of their gender.

They also said that women tended to be further to the left than the more centrist Rubinites that have generally prevailed in policy debates.

Ms. Tyson, Ms. Romer and Ms. Yellen are especially close, calling one another for advice on navigating the world of White House politics and talking economic shop.

Ms. Tyson recommended Ms. Yellen for an open seat on the Fed’s seven-member board of governors, which oversees regulatory policy and sets monetary policy in consultation with the presidents of the 12 regional reserve banks.

She also helped to start the career of Ms. Brainard, now the Treasury under secretary for international affairs, by battling for permission to break the rules by extending Ms. Brainard’s White House fellowship into a full-time position with the Council of Economic Advisers.