U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Reuters Next conference Thursday it was the Federal Reserve's job to ensure that the current run of high inflation does not evolve into a damaging and long-lasting "wage-price spiral" like the economy endured in the 1970s.

Yellen, who served as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank from 2014 to 2018, said it was up to the U.S. central bank to decide what to do about interest rates, but that a strong U.S. economy, which would likely prompt rate increases, is generally a good thing for the rest of the world.