Alan Greenspan, who served as chairman of the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades and became one of the most closely watched figures in global finance, has died at the age of 100, CNN reported.
Greenspan led the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, a span that covered the Black Monday stock crash, the savings and loan crisis, the dot-com boom and bust, the September 11 attacks, and the early stages of the housing bubble that would later contribute to the 2008 financial crisis. His tenure made him a central figure in American economic life across four presidential administrations.
He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and went on to be reappointed by Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. That rare continuity across administrations of both parties reflected the degree to which Greenspan was seen as an indispensable voice on monetary policy and economic stability.
His reputation shifted considerably in the years after he left the Fed. Critics pointed to his support for financial deregulation and his approach to low interest rates as factors that contributed to the conditions leading to the 2008 financial collapse. Greenspan himself acknowledged before Congress in 2008 that he had found a flaw in his ideology regarding how markets self-regulate.
Before his time at the Fed, Greenspan ran an economic consulting firm and served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford. He was closely associated with the philosophy of free markets and limited government intervention in the economy, shaped in part by his long personal and intellectual relationship with author and philosopher Ayn Rand.
During his years as Fed chair, Greenspan became known for language so deliberately indirect that a specific term was coined for it. His carefully worded public statements were parsed by traders, analysts, and journalists around the world for any signal about the direction of interest rates.
He was 100 years old.
