The Curious Case of Janet Yellen's Pay Cut from $410,800 to under $200,000

Below are listed the salaries of the presidents of the various Federal Reserve Bank branches, which in some convoluted manner are considered private.

In contrast, Ben Bernanke chairman of the government Federal Reserve Board  is paid only $199,700 a year. This raises the interesting question of why did San Francisco Fed president Janet Yellen campaign so hard to become Fed vice-chair. Presumably, she will be paid less than Bernanke's $199,700, and she will be leaving an SF Fed position that paid her $410,800. This means we are talking a 50% plus pay cut. Just what elitist /power perks does Yellen see for herself that causes her to make this trade?

Fed District	President in December 2009	Salary
1. Boston	Eric Rosengren	$320,900
2. New York	William Dudley	$410,780
3. Philadelphia	Charles Plosser	$344,700
4. Cleveland	Sandra Pianalto	$341,600
5. Richmond	Jeffrey Lacker	$339,600
6. Atlanta	Dennis Lockhart	$302,800
7. Chicago	Charles Evans	$308,400
8. St. Louis	James Bullard	$276,800
9. Minneapolis	Narayana Kocherlakota	$308,400
10. Kansas City	Thomas Hoenig	$374,400
11. Dallas	Richard Fisher	$344,700
12. San Francisco	Janet Yellen	$410,800

(Chart via WSJ)