It is nearly impossible in this politically polarised moment to find a Treasury secretary that everyone can love. But kudos to Joe Biden, because the US president-elect has done just that by picking Janet Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair, for the job.

An even-keeled, data-driven, low-ego leader, she enjoys the trust of progressives and many conservatives, too. She is lauded by economists of all stripes, from Joseph Stiglitz to Kenneth Rogoff. This will serve her well in Washington.

“The thing about Janet, and one of the reasons that the markets as well as labour have always liked her, is that she’s not an ideologue,” says Michael Greenberger, a University of Maryland law professor who worked in derivatives regulation during the Clinton administration, when Ms Yellen was head of the Council of Economic Advisers. “She takes her time, studies all the information and when she speaks, what she says is almost always unanswerable because it’s so factual.”