In brief
Alan Greenspan, a central figure in the United States economy from 1987 to 2006, has died at age 100. His tenure as Federal Reserve chairman was noted for maintaining low inflation, steady growth, and repeatedly cutting interest rates during crises. While praised for steering the nation through the Golden Era of the 1990s, he faced criticism for a low‑rate regime that contributed to the dot‑com bubble and the 2008 sub‑prime mortgage crisis. Greenspan also testified before Congress that his free‑market stance was flawed and that regulators should play a stronger role. He was married to NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell, and was known for his reticence and the phrase “the buck starts here.” With honors from the President and Queen Elizabeth II, he remains a symbol of long‑term economic stewardship.
Former U.S. Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan has died at the age of 100, a statement from his wife confirms, bringing a long‑shaped career to a close.
Greenspan served as the chief economist of the United States from 1987 until 2006, a period that included the longest sustained period of economic growth in a generation. He is cited as the “God in the machine” of American finance, known for his careful use of low interest rates and for resisting the temptation to issue public statements. His tenure saw the handling of the 1987 stock market crash, the 1990s boom, and the responses to the nine‑nine‑one attacks.
Critics argued that Greenspan’s insistence on a free‑market approach and his reluctance to regulate lending institutions helped stir the dot‑com bubble and, after the 2006 retirement of the chair, the sub‑prime mortgage crisis of 2008. In testimony to Congress he acknowledged that banks had misplaced their confidence in self‑regulation and that the policy of low rates had allowed risky lending to flourish.
Beyond policy, Greenspan’s personal life drew media attention. He married NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell in 1997 and was briefly linked to Barbara Walters in the late 1970s. He remained a sought‑after economics commentator in his later years, offering critiques of the Trump administration, the UK’s Brexit, and a 2023 Biden rate hike.
He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and an honorary knighthood, honors that underscored his lifetime influence. Greenspan’s legacy will always reflect a period where GDP contracted only once over two decades, though the debate over his regulatory philosophy and his role in key market crashes will persist. The world now mourns the departure of a central banker whose decisions shaped the modern U.S. economy for close to twenty years.
