Alan Greenspan, Former Federal Reserve Chair, Dies at 100

Alan Greenspan, the influential former chairman of the Federal Reserve who shaped American economic policy for nearly two decades, died on June 22 at his home in Washington. He was 100 years old. His wife, Andrea Mitchell, the chief Washington correspondent for NBC News, said he died from complications of Parkinson's disease.

Greenspan served as Federal Reserve chairman from August 1987 to January 2006 under four presidents of both parties, presiding over the second-longest economic expansion in American history. From March 1991 to March 2001, the United States experienced a decade of continuous economic growth. During his tenure, he successfully navigated multiple crises, including the 1987 stock market crash, the 1997-1998 Asian and Russian financial crises, the 2000 internet bubble burst, and the economic turbulence following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He became the most prominent economist of his era and a symbol of post-Cold War American capitalism, embodying optimism in markets, faith in technology, and skepticism of regulation.

However, Greenspan's legacy became deeply contested following the 2008 financial crisis. Critics argue that his monetary policies enabled a series of asset price bubbles and laid the groundwork for the housing and credit crisis. His 2005 assertion that U.S. housing prices showed no signs of a bubble became a textbook example of policy failure after the subsequent subprime mortgage collapse. His steadfast commitment to free-market ideology and light-touch financial regulation came under scrutiny as evidence mounted that the permissive environment he fostered enabled reckless speculation by banks and financial institutions.

Greenspan's approach to asset prices was asymmetric: while the Federal Reserve quickly deployed stimulus and liquidity injections whenever markets crashed—establishing what became known as the "Greenspan Put"—it remained passive during bubble formation. He maintained that the Federal Reserve could not reliably identify bubbles before they burst, and feared that tightening policy might trigger severe recessions. This doctrine influenced central banking globally and was perpetuated by his successor, Ben Bernanke, through the 2008 crisis and beyond.

Born March 6, 1926, in New York, Greenspan initially pursued music, studying saxophone at Juilliard and performing in jazz bands before turning to economics at New York University. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in economics and later a doctorate from NYU in 1977. He worked as an economic forecaster for decades before entering politics as an economic advisor to Richard Nixon in 1968 and serving as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Gerald Ford. A devoted follower of libertarian philosopher Ayn Rand in his youth, Greenspan brought a strong ideological commitment to free markets to the Federal Reserve. Beyond his official duties, he wielded substantial influence over fiscal, trade, and regulatory policy through his relationships with Congress and successive administrations.

Greenspan married Andrea Mitchell in 1997 in a ceremony presided over by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He was an avid tennis player who continued competing into his eighties with Treasury secretaries and political figures. His passing marks the end of an era whose economic policies and their consequences remain subjects of intense scholarly and political debate.