Alan Greenspan, who chaired the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades under four presidents, died Monday at 100 from complications of Parkinson’s disease.
Alan Greenspan, the economist who led the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades and became one of the most closely watched figures in global finance, died Monday. He was 100.
Greenspan died at his home from complications of Parkinson’s disease, his wife, NBC News journalist Andrea Mitchell, said in a statement reported by CNBC and CBS News. NPR reported that he died at his home in Washington.
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Greenspan chaired the Fed through 2006, serving under Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. His 19-year tenure was among the longest in the central bank’s history and spanned the 1987 stock market crash, the late-1990s technology boom, the dot-com bust and the early years of the housing bubble that later helped trigger the Great Recession.
Mitchell called him “a giant of a man who helped shape the U.S. economy for decades under presidents of both parties,” adding that he was “always honest in acknowledging his mistakes,” according to CNBC.
Greenspan’s public reputation rose sharply during the long expansion of the 1990s, when low inflation, strong growth and surging stock prices helped make a central banker an unlikely public figure. Investors, lawmakers and economists parsed his congressional testimony and speeches for clues about interest rates, inflation and the Fed’s next move.
His style became known as “Fedspeak” — dense, carefully hedged language designed to avoid jolting markets. But one phrase cut through. In a 1996 speech, Greenspan asked whether “irrational exuberance” had pushed asset values too high. The remark rattled markets at first, including a 3% drop in Tokyo stocks, CNBC reported, though equities later recovered and continued climbing until the dot-com bust in 2001.
Greenspan’s legacy is sharply divided. Supporters credited him with helping guide the economy through shocks including Black Monday in 1987, the Asian financial crisis, Russia’s 1998 default, the Long-Term Capital Management bailout and the Sept. 11 attacks. Critics argued that his preference for low interest rates and a light regulatory touch helped inflate financial bubbles and left the system exposed before the 2008 crisis, which struck after he left office.
Greenspan defended many of his decisions but later acknowledged that he underestimated the scale of risky mortgage lending. In a 2007 interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” he said he was aware such practices existed but did not grasp how significant they had become until late in his tenure.
Born in New York City in 1926, Greenspan studied clarinet and saxophone at Juilliard before turning to economics at New York University. He worked in economic consulting, chaired President Gerald Ford’s Council of Economic Advisers and served on the commission that helped reshape Social Security before Reagan chose him to succeed Paul Volcker at the Fed.
After retiring from the central bank, Greenspan opened Greenspan Associates and remained a prominent voice on monetary policy, regulation and Fed independence. His death closes the life of a central banker remembered both for the boom he helped oversee and for the risks he failed to contain.
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