Adriana Kugler: the Latina Nominated for Governor of the US FED

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, nominated Adiana Kugler last Friday, May 12, for the vacancy of governor of the United States Federal Reserve System (FED), which is in charge of supervising and controlling the country’s monetary policy. This news has garnered attention because Kugler, who is currently the US Executive Director of the World Bank, is Colombian-American, so if the appointment takes place, she would become the first Latina woman to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.

The Colombian would go on to occupy the position of Philip Jefferson, who in turn would move to occupy the vice-presidency of the board. This last position was occupied by who, since February, is the new economic adviser to the White House, Lael Brainard. Jefferson’s appointment and Kugler’s must be approved by the Senate to become a reality.

Who is Adriana Kugler?

The new governor of the FED is the daughter of Colombians and spent much of her childhood in Colombia. However, he has pursued his career as an economist in the United States and has held various public positions. Likewise, she has been awarded for several of her academic investigations. She has a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and a BA in Economics and Political Science from McGill University, in Canada.

In terms of her experience, she was vice chancellor at Georgetown University, chaired the Business and Economic Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association, was a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association of Labor Economists and the Executive Committee of the Economic Association of America. Latin and the Caribbean.

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On the other hand, during his career as an economist, Kugler has been inclined to study unemployment and the state aid that can be provided to people in this situation. She also has a special interest in economic support and has an affinity with favorable immigration policies for migrants, since she believes that they have the potential to contribute to the country and that the United States would benefit and even be complemented thanks to them.

What would his appointment mean?

This FED’s nomination responds to the constant complaints about the lack of Hispanics in the leadership of the country’s central bank . These complaints have been made by the influential Democratic Senator Bob Menendez on several occasions.

As we already mentioned, if it happens, the appointment of Kugler would mean a historic milestone in this government agency. In addition, taking into account that there are 62.2 million Latinos in the United States (19% of the population), this appointment would mean representing this sector at the table where the most important decisions on the country’s monetary policy are made.

In turn, the FED’s decisions, even if they are interim, have a great effect on the world economy and, of course, on that of Latin America. In short, if the Fed’s inflation rates increase, the cost of financing in dollars increases for Latin American countries, making it difficult to find resources for public spending.

The Fed increases these rates because it seeks to slow down consumption in the US economy to face global inflation, which is currently quite high in the United States. In this sense, Kugler’s role and participation would be crucial and, above all, his previous research focused on the labor market, at a time when the FED is evaluating tight monetary policies, could have a significant impact on the labor force. In addition, her position as a Latina woman can drive decisions based on the impacts they would have on the Hispanic communities of the North American country and in the Latin American region, which, after all, is geographically the closest.