View source for Alan Greenspan

{{Short description|American economist and financial advisor (born 1926)}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_suffix    = 
| name                = Alan Greenspan
| image               = Alan Greenspan color photo portrait.jpg
| order               = 13th
| office              = Chairman of the Federal Reserve
| president           = {{Plainlist|
*[[Ronald Reagan]]
*[[George H. W. Bush]]
*[[Bill Clinton]]
*[[George W. Bush]]}}
| deputy              = {{Plainlist|
*[[Manuel H. Johnson|Manley Johnson]]
*[[David W. Mullins Jr.|David Mullins]]
*[[Alan Blinder]]
*[[Alice Rivlin]]
*[[Roger W. Ferguson Jr.|Roger Ferguson]]}}
| term_start          = August 11, 1987
| term_end            = January 31, 2006
| predecessor         = [[Paul Volcker]]
| successor           = [[Ben Bernanke]]
| office1             = Member of the [[Federal Reserve Board of Governors]]
| president1          = {{Plainlist|
*Ronald Reagan
*George H. W. Bush
*Bill Clinton
*George W. Bush}}
| term_start1         = August 11, 1987
| term_end1           = January 31, 2006
| predecessor1        = Paul Volcker
| successor1          = Ben Bernanke
| office2             = 10th Chairman of the [[Council of Economic Advisers]]
| president2          = [[Gerald Ford]]
| term_start2         = September 4, 1974
| term_end2           = January 20, 1977
| predecessor2        = [[Herbert Stein]]
| successor2          = [[Charles Schultze]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1926|3|6}}
| birth_place         = New York City, U.S.
| death_date          = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|1926|3|6}} -->
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Joan Mitchell|1952|1953|end=annulled}}
* {{marriage|[[Andrea Mitchell]]|1997}}}}
| education           = {{plainlist|
* [[New York University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]], [[PhD]])
* [[Columbia University]]}}
| module              = {{ infobox scientist
| embed               = yes
| workplaces        = 
| field             = [[Economics]]
| thesis_title      = Papers on economic theory and policy
| thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/302834551/
| thesis_year       = 1977
| doctoral_advisor  = 
}}
}}

'''Alan Greenspan''' <!-- no "KBE" according to the manual of style --> (born March 6, 1926) is an American economist who served as the 13th [[chair of the Federal Reserve|chairman of the Federal Reserve]] from 1987 to 2006. He worked as a private adviser and provided consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC.

First nominated to the [[Federal Reserve]] by President [[Ronald Reagan]] in August 1987, Greenspan was reappointed at successive four-year intervals until retiring on January 31, 2006, after the second-longest tenure in the position, behind only [[William McChesney Martin]].<ref>{{cite news|author1= Friedman, Benjamin M. |title=Chairman Greenspan's Legacy|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2008/mar/20/chairman-greenspans-legacy |work= New York Review of Books | volume = 55 | archive-date = March 5, 2016 | archive-url    =   https://web.archive.org/web/20160305195203/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/03/20/chairman-greenspans-legacy/  |    issue=4|date=March 20, 2008|author1-link=Benjamin M. Friedman}}</ref> President [[George W. Bush]] appointed [[Ben Bernanke]] as his successor. 
Greenspan came to the [[Federal Reserve Board]] from a consulting career. Although he was subdued in his public appearances, favorable media coverage raised his profile to a point that several observers likened him to a "rock star".<ref>{{cite news |last=Aversa |first=Jeannine |title=Alan Greenspan Enjoys Rock Star Renown |date=March 5, 2005 |url= http://www.chron.com/business/article/Alan-Greenspan-enjoys-rock-star-renown-1914177.php |work=Houston Chronicle |access-date=December 7, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Evans-Pritchard |first =Ambrose |title=Greenspan Was More a Rock Star than a Feared Fed Sage |date=September 17, 2007 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/2815893/Greenspan-was-more-a-rock-star-than-a-feared-Fed-sage.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/2815893/Greenspan-was-more-a-rock-star-than-a-feared-Fed-sage.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=December 7, 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Stahl |first =Leslie |title=Greenspan Defends Low Interest Rates |date=February 11, 2009 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greenspan-defends-low-interest-rates/ |work=CBS News |access-date=December 7, 2011}}</ref> Democratic leaders of Congress criticized him for politicizing his office because of his support for [[Social Security privatization]]<ref name="Inside">{{cite web |last1=Woodruff |first1=Judy |last2 = Reid  |first2 =  Harry |title=Inside Politics |url=http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0503/03/ip.01.html |publisher=CNN |access-date=June 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710150047/http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0503/03/ip.01.html |archive-date=July 10, 2017 |location=Washington DC |format=Transcript of interview |date=March 3, 2005 |quote=Judy, you understand, I hope, that I'm not a big Greenspan fan -- Alan Greenspan fan. I voted against him the last two times. I think he's one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington. The fact of the matter is, he told us when we were in power and Clinton was president the biggest problem facing the American people was the deficit. And we did something about it. We, during the Clinton years, paid down the debt by about a half a trillion dollars.  Why doesn't he respond to the Republicans and tell them the big problem here is the debt that this administration is created?}}</ref><ref name="washtime">{{cite news |url =http://www.washtimes.com/news/2005/mar/04/20050304-102717-1490r/ |title=Reid Sticks by Greenspan Comments |date=March 5, 2005 |work =The Washington Times |access-date=October 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205194350/http://www.washtimes.com/news/2005/mar/04/20050304-102717-1490r/ |archive-date=December 5, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> and tax cuts.<ref name="Andrews">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/03/politics/03deficit.html |title=Greenspan says Federal Budget Deficits are 'Unsustainable{{'-}} |first=Edmund L. |last=Andrews |work= [[The New York Times]] |date=March 3, 2005 |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref>

Many have argued that the [[Easy money policy|"easy-money" policies]] of the Fed during Greenspan's tenure, including the practice known as the "[[Greenspan put]]", were a leading cause of the [[dot-com bubble]] and [[subprime mortgage crisis]] (the latter occurring within a year of his leaving the Fed), which, said ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', "tarnished his reputation".<ref name="WSJ January 13, 2012">{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204409004577157001537763864 |title=Little Alarm Shown at Fed At Dawn of Housing Bust |last1=Hilsenrath |first1=Jon |last2=Di Leo |first2=Luca |last3=Derby |first3=Michael S. |date=January 13, 2012 |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=January 24, 2012 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Teeter|first1=Preston|last2=Sandberg|first2=Jorgen|date=2017|title=Cracking the enigma of asset bubbles with narratives|journal=Strategic Organization|volume=15|issue=1|pages=91–99|doi=10.1177/1476127016629880|s2cid=156163200}}</ref> Yale economist [[Robert Shiller]] argues that "once stocks fell, real estate became the primary outlet for the speculative frenzy that the stock market had unleashed".<ref name="Shiller Barron's">{{cite news |last=Shiller|first=Robert |title=The Bubble's New Home |work=[[Barron's (newspaper)|Barron's]] |date=June 20, 2005 |url=http://online.barrons.com/article/SB111905372884363176.html |quote=Once stocks fell, real estate became the primary outlet for the speculative frenzy that the stock market had unleashed. Where else could plungers apply their newly acquired trading talents? The materialistic display of the big house also has become a salve to bruised egos of disappointed stock investors. These days, the only thing that comes close to real estate as a national obsession is poker.}}</ref> Greenspan has argued that the housing bubble was not a result of low-interest short-term rates but rather a worldwide phenomenon caused by the progressive decline in long-term interest rates – a direct consequence of the relationship between high savings rates in the developing world and its inverse in the developed world.<ref>{{cite web |last=Greenspan |first=Alan |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123672965066989281 |title=The Fed Didn't Cause the Housing Bubble |website=Wall Street Journal |date=March 11, 2009 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218012503/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123672965066989281 |archive-date=February 18, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926, in the [[Washington Heights, Manhattan|Washington Heights]] area of New York City. His father, Herbert Greenspan, was of [[Jews in Romania|Romanian Jewish]] descent, and his mother, Rose Goldsmith, was of [[Hungarian Jewish]] descent.{{Sfn|Greenspan|2007|p=19}} After his parents divorced, Greenspan grew up with his mother in the household of his maternal grandparents who were born in Russia.{{Sfn|Mallaby|2016|p=13}} His father worked as a stockbroker and consultant in New York City.{{Sfn|Martin|2000|p=[https://archive.org/details/greenspanmanbeh000mart/page/54 54]}}

Greenspan attended [[George Washington High School (New York City)|George Washington High School]] from 1940 until he graduated in June 1943, where one of his classmates was [[John George Kemeny|John Kemeny]].{{Sfn|Greenspan|2007|p=24}} He played clarinet and saxophone along with [[Stan Getz]]. He further studied clarinet at the [[Juilliard School]] from 1943 to 1944.{{Sfn|Martin|2000|pp=[https://archive.org/details/greenspanmanbeh000mart/page/11 11–13]}} Among his bandmates in the [[Woody Herman|Woody Herman band]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leonard Garment |url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/medals/leonard-garment |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=www.arts.gov |language=en}}</ref> was [[Leonard Garment]], [[Richard Nixon]]'s [[White House Counsel|special counsel]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leonard Garment |url=https://archive.org/details/crazyrhythmmyjou00garm_0/mode/2up |title=Crazy rhythm |date=2001 |publisher=Da Capo Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-306-81082-4}}</ref> He reported to a draft board for potential military service in [[World War II]] and was rejected as medically unfit in 1944 due to a spot on his lung.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/books/18leonhardt.html Economist’s Life, Scored With Jazz Theme]</ref> In 1945, Greenspan attended [[New York University Stern School of Business|New York University's Stern School of Business]], where he earned a B.A. degree in economics ''[[summa cum laude]]'' in 1948{{Sfn|Martin|2000|p=27}} and an [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] degree in economics in 1950.{{Sfn|Greenspan|2007|p=33}} At [[Columbia University]], he pursued advanced economic studies under [[Arthur Burns]] but withdrew because of his increasing work demand at Townsend-Greenspan & Company.{{Sfn|Martin|2000|pp=[https://archive.org/details/greenspanmanbeh000mart/page/27 27–31]}}

In 1977, Greenspan obtained a Ph.D. in economics from New York University. His dissertation is not available from the university<ref>{{cite news |first=Jim |last=McTague |title=Dr. Greenspan's Amazing Invisible Thesis |url=http://online.barrons.com/article/SB120675340444773623.html?mod=b_hpp_9_0002_b_this_weeks_magazine_home_right |work=[[Barron's (newspaper)|Barron's]] |date=March 31, 2008 |access-date=October 17, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406132920/http://online.barrons.com/article/SB120675340444773623.html?mod=b_hpp_9_0002_b_this_weeks_magazine_home_right |archive-date=April 6, 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> since it was removed at Greenspan's request in 1987, when he became chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. In April 2008, however, ''[[Barron's (newspaper)|Barron's]]'' obtained a copy and notes that it includes "a discussion of soaring housing prices and their effect on consumer spending; it even anticipates a bursting housing bubble".<ref>{{cite news |first=Jim |last=McTague |title=Looking at Greenspan's Long-Lost Thesis |url=http://online.barrons.com/public/article/SB120917419049046805.html?mod=mktw |work=[[Barron's (newspaper)|Barron's]] |date=April 28, 2008 |access-date=July 25, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216052633/http://online.barrons.com/public/article/SB120917419049046805.html?mod=mktw |archive-date=February 16, 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

==Career==
===Before the Federal Reserve===
{{See also|Greenspan Commission}}

During his economics studies at New York University, Greenspan worked under Eugene Banks, a managing director at the [[Wall Street]] investment bank [[Brown Brothers Harriman]], in the firm's equity research department.{{Sfn|Greenspan|2007|p=31}} From 1948 to 1953, Greenspan worked as an analyst at the National Industrial Conference Board (currently known as [[the Conference Board]]), a business- and industry-oriented [[think tank]] in New York City.{{Sfn|Greenspan|2007|pp=32–34, 41–45}}

From 1955 to 1987, Greenspan was chairman and president of Townsend-Greenspan & Co., Inc., an economics consulting firm in New York City. His 32-year stint there was interrupted only from 1974 to 1977, when he served as chairman of the [[Council of Economic Advisers]], under President [[Gerald Ford]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Alan Greenspan |url=https://www.federalreservehistory.org/people/alan-greenspan |website=federalreservehistory.org |access-date=April 12, 2022}}</ref>

In mid-1968, Greenspan agreed to serve as Richard Nixon's coordinator on domestic policy in the nomination campaign.<ref>{{cite book |first=Stephen |last=Ambrose |author-link=Stephen Ambrose |title=Nixon |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York |year=1987 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nixon00ambr_0/page/158 158] |isbn=978-0-671-52837-9 |oclc=14414031 |url=https://archive.org/details/nixon00ambr_0/page/158 }}</ref> Greenspan has also served as a corporate director for [[Alcoa|Aluminum Company of America]] (Alcoa); [[Automatic Data Processing]]; [[American Broadcasting Company|Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.]]; [[General Foods]]; [[J.P. Morgan & Co.]]; [[Morgan Guaranty Trust Company]]; [[Mobil|Mobil Corporation]]; and the [[Pittston Company]].<ref>{{cite press release |title=Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Board of Governors of Federal Reserve, Receives Dean's Medal at Wharton School MBA Commencement |publisher=[[Wharton School]] |date=April 19, 2005 |url= http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/whartonfacts/news_and_events/newsreleases/2005/p_2005_4_332.html |access-date=October 17, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727195705/http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/whartonfacts/news_and_events/newsreleases/2005/p_2005_4_332.html |archive-date=July 27, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. Senate Panel Votes for 4th Term for Fed Chairman Greenspan |agency =Bloomberg News |work=[[Deseret News]] |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/809511/US-Senate-Panel-Votes-for-4th-Term-for-Fed-Chairman-Greenspan.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023203407/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/809511/US-Senate-Panel-Votes-for-4th-Term-for-Fed-Chairman-Greenspan.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 23, 2012 |date=February 1, 2000}}</ref> He was a director of the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] foreign policy organization between 1982 and 1988.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grose |first=Peter |title=Continuing the inquiry: the Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996 |publisher=[[Council on Foreign Relations]] |location=New York |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-87609-192-0 |oclc=35280546 |chapter=Historical Roster of Directors and Officers |chapter-url=http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/appendix.html |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/continuinginquir0000gros }}</ref> He also served as a member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the [[Group of Thirty]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Group of 30 :: Members :: Past Members |url=http://group30.org/members/past |access-date=2025-10-30 |website=group30.org}}</ref>

===Chairman of the Federal Reserve===
{|class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 0.50em; margin-right: 1.5em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:25em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
|style="text-align: left;"|What I've learned at the Federal Reserve is a new language which is called "[[Fedspeak|Fed-speak]]". You soon learn to mumble with great incoherence.
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|— Alan Greenspan<ref name="BessettePitney2010">{{cite book |last1=Bessette |first1=Joseph M. |last2=Pitney |first2=John J. Jr. |title=American Government and Politics: Deliberation, Democracy and Citizenship |year=2011 |location=Boston |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0-534-53684-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8uu8cevL2iUC&pg=PA578 578]}}</ref>
|}
[[File:Mvc-017x.jpg|left|thumb|Alan Greenspan in 2005]]
On June 2, 1987, President [[Ronald Reagan]] nominated Greenspan as a successor to [[Paul Volcker]], as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and the [[United States Senate|Senate]] confirmed him on August 11, 1987.<ref>{{cite book |author=United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs |title=Nomination of Alan Greenspan: Hearing Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, First Session, July 21, 1987 |date=July 21, 1987 |publisher=US Government Printing Office |url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/279}}</ref> Investor, author and commentator [[Jim Rogers]] has said that Greenspan lobbied to get this chairmanship.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jim |last=Rogers |author-link=Jim Rogers |title=Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip |location=New York |publisher=Random House |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-375-50912-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/ultimateinvestor00jimr}}</ref>

Two months after his confirmation, Greenspan said immediately following the [[Black Monday (1987)|1987 stock market crash]] that the Fed "affirmed today its readiness to serve as a source of liquidity to support the economic and financial system".<ref>{{cite report |url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/Pubs/feds/2007/200713/200713pap.pdf |title=A Brief History of the 1987 Stock Market Crash with a Discussion of the Federal Reserve Response |first=Mark |last=Carlson |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=[[Federal Reserve Board]] |date=November 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.forbes.com/2008/07/01/fed-bernanke-greenspan-oped-cx_jt_0702dollar.html |title=In 2008, Shades of October 1987 |first=John |last=Tamny |magazine=Forbes |date=July 2, 2008 |access-date=June 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611231632/http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/01/fed-bernanke-greenspan-oped-cx_jt_0702dollar.html |archive-date=June 11, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1538304.stm |title=Central Banks Promise Support |work=[[BBC News]] |date=September 12, 2001 |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref> Although the Federal Reserve followed its announcement with monetary policy actions, which became known as the [[Greenspan put]], [[George H.&nbsp;W. Bush]] attributed his re-election loss to a sluggish response. Democratic president [[Bill Clinton]] reappointed Greenspan, and consulted him on economic matters. Greenspan lent support to Clinton's 1993 deficit reduction program.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/26/AR2006012602123_3.html |title=Chairman Moved a Nation |newspaper=The Washington Post |first=Nell |last=Henderson |date=January 27, 2006}}</ref> Greenspan was fundamentally a [[monetarist]] and [[Austrian Economist]] in orientation on the economy,<ref>{{cite book |last= Maybury|first=Richard|author-link= Richard J. Maybury|title= Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?|year=2004 |url= |location= |publisher= Bluestocking Press|page= 15|isbn=0-942617-52-5|edition= 5th}}</ref> and his monetary policy decisions largely followed standard [[Taylor rule]] prescriptions (see Taylor 1993 and 1999). Greenspan also played a key role in organizing the U.S. bailout of Mexico during the 1994–1995 [[Mexican peso crisis]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://conversationswithbillkristol.org/video/larry-summers/ |title=Larry Summers on Conversations with Bill Kristol |website=Conversations with Bill Kristol |access-date=September 9, 2019}}</ref>

In 2000, Greenspan raised interest rates several times; these actions were believed by many to have caused the bursting of the [[dot-com bubble]]. According to [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences|Nobel laureate]] [[Paul Krugman]], however, "he didn't raise interest rates to curb the market's enthusiasm; he didn't even seek to impose margin requirements on stock market investors. Instead, he waited until the bubble burst, as it did in 2000, then tried to clean up the mess afterward".<ref>{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Krugman |author-link=Paul Krugman |title=The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 |url=https://archive.org/details/returnofdepressi00krug |url-access=registration |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-393-33780-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/returnofdepressi00krug/page/142 142]}}</ref> E. Ray Canterbery agrees with Krugman's criticism.<ref>{{cite book |first=E. Ray |last=Canterbery |title=The Global Great Recession |publisher=World Scientific |year=2013 |isbn=978-981-4322-76-8 |pages=123–135}}</ref>

In January 2001, Greenspan, in support of President Bush's proposed tax decrease, stated that the federal surplus could accommodate a significant tax cut while paying down the national debt.<ref>{{cite news |first=Richard W. |last=Stevenson |work=The New York Times |title=Down Into the Fray |date=January 27, 2001 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/27/business/down-into-the-fray.html |access-date=January 7, 2013}}</ref>

In autumn 2001, as a decisive reaction to the [[September 11 attacks]] and various corporate scandals which undermined the economy, the Greenspan-led Federal Reserve initiated a series of interest cuts that brought down the [[federal funds rate]] to 1% in 2004. While presenting the [[Monetary Policy Report to the Congress|Federal Reserve's Monetary Policy Report]] in July 2002, he said that "It is not that humans have become any more greedy than in generations past. It is that the avenues to express greed had grown so enormously", and suggested that financial markets need to be more regulated.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/hh/2002/july/testimony.htm |title=Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan |publisher= Federal Reserve Board | date=July 16, 2002 | access-date=July 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607103641/http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/hh/2002/july/testimony.htm |archive-date=June 7, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> His critics, led by [[Steve Forbes]], attributed the rapid rise in [[commodity]] prices and [[Gold as an investment|gold]] to Greenspan's loose monetary policy, which Forbes believed had caused excessive asset inflation and a weak dollar. By late 2004, the price of gold was higher than its 12-year moving average.

Greenspan advised senior members of the George W. Bush administration to depose [[Saddam Hussein]] for the sake of the oil markets.<ref name="The Wall Street Journal">{{cite news |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2007/09/17/qa-greenspan-on-bubbles-saddam-cheney-and-bernanke/ |title=Q&A: Greenspan on Bubbles, Saddam, Cheney and Bernanke |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=September 17, 2007 |access-date=June 13, 2016}}</ref> He believed that even a moderate disruption to the flow of oil could translate into high oil prices,<ref name="The Washington Post">{{cite news |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/16/AR2007091601287.html |title = Greenspan: Ouster Of Hussein Crucial For Oil Security|first1= Bob |last1=Woodward|newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 17, 2007 |access-date= June 8, 2016}}</ref> which could lead to "chaos" in the global economy and bring the industrial world "to its knees".<ref name="Guardian US">{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Richard |title=Invasion of Iraq was driven by oil, says Greenspan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/17/iraq.oil |access-date=June 14, 2022 |work=Guardian US |publisher=Scott Trust Limited |date=September 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901002625/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/17/iraq.oil |archive-date=September 1, 2013 |location=New York |quote=Mr Greenspan said it was clear to him that Saddam Hussein had wanted to control the Straits of Hormuz and so control Middle East oil shipments through the vital route out of the Gulf. He said that had Saddam been able to do that it would have been "devastating to the west"}}</ref><ref name="The Irish Times">{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/greenspan-says-invasion-and-war-largely-about-oil-1.962612 |title=Greenspan Says Invasion and War 'Largely about Oil' |last  = Adams    |   first  = Richard |agency = Guardian Services
            |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=September 17, 2007 | archive-url  =  https://web.archive.org/web/20160625163129/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/greenspan-says-invasion-and-war-largely-about-oil-1.962612  | archive-date  = June 25, 2016 |access-date= June 14, 2022}}</ref> He feared that Saddam could seize control of the Straits of Hormuz and restrict the transport of oil through them. In a 2007 interview, he said, "people do not realize in this country, for example, how tenuous our ties to international energy are. That is, we on a daily basis require continuous flow. If that flow is shut off, it causes catastrophic effects in the industrial world. And it's that which made him [Saddam] far more important to get out than bin Laden."<ref name="The Huffington Post">{{cite news |url=http://new.www.huffingtonpost.com/david-fiderer/the-simple-arithmetic-of_b_100021.html |title=The Simple Arithmetic of John McCain's Bogus Claims of Energy Independence|work=The Huffington Post |date=May 5, 2008 | archive-url  =  https://web.archive.org/web/20160914234852/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-fiderer/the-simple-arithmetic-of_b_100021.html       |  archive-date =  September 14, 2016 |format = Blog     |last  =  Fiderer   |  first = David   |   quote = My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East |access-date=June 14, 2022}}</ref>

On May 18, 2004, Greenspan was nominated by President [[George W. Bush]] to serve for an unprecedented fifth term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. He was previously appointed to the post by Presidents Reagan, George H.&nbsp;W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.

In a May 2005 speech, Greenspan stated: "Two years ago at this conference I argued that the growing array of [[Derivative (finance)|derivatives]] and the related application of more-sophisticated methods for measuring and managing risks had been key factors underlying the remarkable resilience of the banking system, which had recently shrugged off severe shocks to the economy and the financial system. At the same time, I indicated some concerns about the risks associated with derivatives, including the risks posed by concentration in certain derivatives markets, notably the [[Over-the-counter (finance)|over-the-counter]] (OTC) markets for U.S. dollar interest rate options."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2005/20050505/default.htm |title=Risk Transfer and Financial Stability |  format =Remarks to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's Forty-first Annual Conference on Bank Structure via satellite  | location = Washington DC |last = Greenspan   |  first = Alan    |publisher= Federal Reserve Board|  date=May 5, 2005 |access-date=May 24, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530104529/http://federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2005/20050505/default.htm |archive-date=May 30, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Greenspan opposed [[China–United States relations#Economic relations|tariffs against the People's Republic of China]] for its refusal to [[Renminbi currency value|let the yuan rise]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/greenspan-warns-against-anti-china-protectionism |title=Greenspan Warns Against Anti-China Protectionism | agency = Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report. |work=[[Fox News]] |date=June 23, 2005 |access-date=January 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118142631/http://www.foxnews.com/story/2005/06/23/greenspan-warns-against-anti-china-protectionism/ | location = Washington DC |archive-date=January 18, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> suggesting instead that any American workers displaced by [[Chinese trade]] could be compensated through unemployment insurance and retraining programs.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aJPievhWVrmY |title=Greenspan Says Tariffs on China Would Hurt U.S. Economy, Jobs | first1 =Craig | last1 =Torres | author-link =Craig Torres |first2=Alison |last2=Kodjak|author2-link=Alison Kodjak |work=[[Bloomberg News]] |date=June 23, 2005 |access-date=January 7, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107234243/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aJPievhWVrmY |archive-date=January 7, 2014}}</ref>

Greenspan's term as a member of the board ended on January 31, 2006, and [[Ben Bernanke]] was confirmed as his successor.

As chairman of the board, Greenspan did not give any broadcast interviews from 1987 through 2005.<ref name="Davies">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4562488.stm |work=BBC News |title=Deficits Could Harm Greenspan's Legacy |last=Davies |first=Sir Howard |author-link=Howard Davies (economist) |date=December 29, 2005 |access-date=May 17, 2011}}</ref>

===After the Federal Reserve===
Immediately after leaving the Fed, Greenspan formed an [[economic consulting]] firm, Greenspan Associates LLC.<ref name= "Unconcerned">{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/06/AR2006110600588.html |first=Nell |last=Henderson |title=Greenspan Unconcerned About Housing |newspaper= The Washington Post |date=November 7, 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080808114519/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/06/AR2006110600588.html        |     archive-date = August 8, 2008 | access-date= June 14, 2022}}</ref> He also accepted an honorary (unpaid) position at [[HM Treasury]] in the United Kingdom.

On February 26, 2007, Greenspan forecast a possible [[recession]] in the United States before or in early 2008.<ref>{{cite news |agency=[[Associated Press]] |title=Greenspan Warns of U.S. Recession Risk |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna17343814 |work=NBC News |date=February 26, 2007 |access-date=October 17, 2008}}</ref> Stabilizing corporate profits are said to have influenced his comments. The following day, the [[Dow Jones Industrial Average]] decreased by 416 points, losing 3.3% of its value.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://money.cnn.com/2007/02/27/markets/markets_0405/index.htm | work=CNN | first=Alexandra | last=Twin | title=Brutal day on Wall Street | date=February 27, 2007}}</ref>

In May 2007, Greenspan was hired as a special consultant by [[Pacific Investment Management Company]] (PIMCO) to participate in their quarterly economic forums and speak privately with the bond managers about Fed interest rate policy.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN1546703720070516 |title =Pimco Hires Greenspan as Consultant: Report |work=Reuters |date=May 16, 2007 |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref>

In August 2007, [[Deutsche Bank]] announced that it would be retaining Greenspan as a senior advisor to its [[investment banking]] team and clients.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Alan Greeenspan to consult for Deutsche Bank Corporate and Investment Bank |publisher=[[Deutsche Bank]] |date=August 13, 2007 |url=http://www.db.com/presse/en/content/press_releases_2007_3606.htm |access-date=October 17, 2008}}</ref>

In mid-January 2008, [[hedge fund]] [[Paulson & Co.]] hired Greenspan as an adviser. According to the terms of their agreement, he was not to advise any other hedge fund while working for Paulson. In 2007, Paulson had foreseen the collapse of the sub-prime housing market and hired [[Goldman Sachs]] to package their sub-prime holdings into derivatives and sell them. Some economic commentators blamed this collapse on Greenspan's policies while at the Fed.<ref>{{cite news |last=Willard |first=Cody |date=April 16, 2010 |url=http://blogs.marketwatch.com/cody/2010/04/16/tangled-webs-greenspan-paulson-goldman-the-sec-and-cc-music-factory/ |publisher=Marketwatch.com |title=Tangled Webs: Greenspan, Paulson, Goldman, the SEC and C&C Music Factory |access-date=January 15, 2011 |archive-date=July 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714035248/http://blogs.marketwatch.com/cody/2010/04/16/tangled-webs-greenspan-paulson-goldman-the-sec-and-cc-music-factory/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=telegraph>{{cite news |last=Monaghan |first=Angela |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/2782593/Greenspan-joins-hedge-fund-Paulson.html |title=Greenspan joins hedge fund Paulson |work=Daily Telegraph |date=January 15, 2008 |access-date=June 22, 2009 |location=London}}</ref>

On April 30, 2009, Greenspan offered a defense of the [[H-1B visa]] program, telling a U.S. Senate subcommittee that the visa quota is "far too small to meet the need" and saying that it protects U.S. workers from global competition, creating a "privileged elite". Testifying on immigration reform before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship, he said more skilled immigration was needed "as the economy copes with the forthcoming retirement wave of skilled baby boomers".<ref>{{cite news |title=Greenspan: H-1B Cap Would Make U.S. Workers 'Privileged Elite{{'-}} |url=http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9132438/Greenspan_H_1B_cap_would_make_U.S._workers_privileged_elite_ |date=April 30, 2009|first=Patrick |last=Thibodeau |work=[[Computerworld]] |access-date=April 16, 2011}}</ref>

===Memoir===
Greenspan wrote a memoir titled ''[[The Age of Turbulence|The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World]]'', published September 17, 2007.{{Sfn|Mallaby|2016|p=654}} Greenspan says that he wrote the book in longhand mostly while soaking in the bathtub, a habit he regularly employs since injuring his back in 1971.{{Sfn|Greenspan|2007|p=73}} Greenspan discusses in his book, among other things, his history in government and economics, capitalism and other economic systems, current issues in the global economy, and future issues that face the global economy. In the book, Greenspan criticizes President George W. Bush, Vice President [[Dick Cheney]], and the Republican-controlled Congress for abandoning the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]'s principles on spending and deficits. Greenspan's criticisms of President Bush include his refusal to veto spending bills, sending the country into increasingly deep deficits, and for "putting political imperatives ahead of sound economic policies".<ref name="TurbReuters">{{cite news |url = https://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUKN1420623220070915 |title = Greenspan Criticizes Bush Policies in Memoir |first=Mark |last=Felsenthal |work=Reuters |date=September 15, 2007 |access-date= November 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012194036/https://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUKN1420623220070915 |archive-date=October 12, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> Greenspan writes, "They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose [the [[United States elections, 2006|2006 election]]]".<ref name="TurbUSAToday">{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/money/books/2007-09-17-greenspan-cover_N.htm |title=Greenspan takes center stage in 'Age of Turbulence' |first=Barbara |last=Hagenbaugh |work=USA Today |date=September 17, 2007 |access-date=November 9, 2007}}</ref><ref name="TurbWSJ">{{cite news |first1=Greg |last1=Ip |first2=Emily |last2=Steel |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118978549183327730 |title=Greenspan Book Criticizes Bush And Republicans |work=Wall Street Journal |date=September 15, 2007 |page=A1}}</ref> 

Greenspan praised Bill Clinton above all the other presidents for whom he'd worked for his "consistent, disciplined focus on long-term economic growth".<ref name="GreenAttacks">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/business/15greenspan.html |title= Former Fed Chief Attacks Bush on Fiscal Role |first1= Edmund L. |last1=Andrews |first2=David E. |last2=Sanger |work=The New York Times |date=September 15, 2007 |access-date=November 8, 2007 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> Although he respected what he saw as [[Richard Nixon]]'s immense intelligence, Greenspan found him to be "sadly paranoid, misanthropic and cynical". He said of [[Gerald Ford]] that he "was as close to normal as you get in a president, but he was never elected".<ref name="TurbWSJ" /> Regarding future U.S. economic policy, Greenspan recommends improving the U.S. primary and secondary education systems. He asserts this would narrow the inequality between the minority of high-income earners and most workers whose wages have not grown in proportion with [[globalization]] and the nation's GDP growth.{{Sfn|Greenspan|2007|pp=392–408}}

==Objectivism==
{{obj}}
In the early 1950s, Greenspan began an association with novelist and [[Objectivism|Objectivist]] philosopher [[Ayn Rand]].<ref name="TurbRevKinsley">{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/books/review/Kinsley-t.html |title =Greenspan Shrugged |first=Michael |last=Kinsley |author-link=Michael Kinsley |work=The New York Times |date=October 14, 2007 |access-date=November 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124033522/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/books/review/Kinsley-t.html |archive-date=January 24, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Greenspan was introduced to Rand by his first wife, Joan Mitchell. Rand nicknamed Greenspan "the undertaker" because of his penchant for dark clothing and reserved demeanor. Although Greenspan was initially a [[logical positivist]],{{Sfn|Greenspan|2007|p=41}} he was converted to Rand's philosophy of [[Objectivism]] by her associate [[Nathaniel Branden]]. He became one of the members of Rand's inner circle, [[the Ayn Rand Collective]], who read ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'' while it was being written. During the 1950s and 1960s, Greenspan was a proponent of Objectivism, writing articles for Objectivist newsletters and contributing several essays for Rand's 1966 book ''[[Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal]]'' including an essay supporting the [[gold standard]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Greenspan |first=Alan |date=July 1966 |title=Gold and Economic Freedom |journal=[[The Objectivist]] |volume=5 |issue=7 |url=http://www.constitution.org/mon/greenspan_gold.htm |access-date=October 16, 2008 |archive-date=September 25, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100925231456/http://constitution.org/mon/greenspan_gold.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Harriet |last=Rubin |title= Ayn Rand's Literature of Capitalism |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/business/15atlas.html |work=The New York Times |date=September 15, 2007 |access-date=January 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316181158/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/business/15atlas.html |archive-date=March 16, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> During the 1960s, Greenspan offered a ten-lecture course, "The Economics of a Free Society", under the auspices of the [[Nathaniel Branden Institute]]. The course highlighted the causes of prosperity and depression, the consequences of government intervention, and the fallacies of collectivist economics.<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[My Years with Ayn Rand]] |last=Branden |first=Nathaniel |location=San Francisco |publisher=Jossey Bass |year=1999 |isbn=0-7879-4513-7 |oclc=39391081}}</ref> Rand stood beside him at his 1974 swearing-in as chairman of the [[Council of Economic Advisers]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dowd |first1=Maureen |title=Where 'Atlas Shrugged' is still read - forthrightly |work=The New York Times |date=September 13, 1987 |ref=Gale Document Number: GALE A176079182 |location=[[Gale]] General OneFile |quote=Miss Rand first persuaded Mr. Greenspan to go into Government, as an economic adviser to President Nixon. She said he could help curb spending and move government 'toward reason as a last resort.' 'When I met Ayn Rand, I was a free enterpriser in the Adam Smith sense - impressed with the theoretical structure and efficiency of markets,' Mr. Greenspan said in 1974. 'What she did - through long discussions and lots of arguments into the night - was to make me think why capitalism is not only efficient and practical, but also moral.'}}</ref> Greenspan and Rand remained friends until her death in 1982.<ref name="TurbRevKinsley" />

Greenspan has come under criticism from [[Harry Binswanger]],<ref>{{cite news |first=Harry |last=Binswanger |author-link=Harry Binswanger |title=Greenspan on 'Infectious Greed' |url=http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?id=1825 |work= Capitalism Magazine |date=August 30, 2002 |access-date=October 17, 2008}}</ref> who believes his actions while at work for the Federal Reserve and his publicly expressed opinions on other issues show abandonment of Objectivist and [[free market]] principles. When questioned in relation to this, however, he has said that in a democratic society individuals have to make compromises with each other over conflicting ideas of how money should be handled. He said he himself had to make such compromises, because he believes that "we did extremely well" without a central bank and with a [[gold standard]].<ref>{{cite video |date=October 15, 2007 |title=Alan Greenspan on FOX Business Network |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjMQG3qUFKo  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ZjMQG3qUFKo| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|publisher=[[Fox Business Network]], YouTube |access-date=June 22, 2009}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In a congressional hearing on October 23, 2008, Greenspan admitted that his free-market ideology shunning certain regulations was flawed.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ah5qh9Up4rIg|title= Greenspan Concedes to 'Flaw' in His Market Ideology |first1=Scott |last1 =Lanman |first2=Steve |last2=Matthews |publisher=Bloomberg |date=October 23, 2008 |access-date=June 22, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930221027/https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ah5qh9Up4rIg|archive-date=September 30, 2009}}</ref> When asked about free markets and Rand's ideas, however, Greenspan clarified his stance on ''[[laissez faire]]'' capitalism and asserted that in a democratic society there could be no better alternative. He stated that the errors that were made stemmed not from the principle, but from the application of competitive markets in "assuming what the nature of risks would be".<ref>{{cite video |date=April 4, 2010 |title= Interview with Alan Greenspan |url= https://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/interview-alan-greenspan-10281612 |publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |access-date=April 4, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100409012115/https://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/interview-alan-greenspan-10281612 |archive-date=April 9, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Economist E. Ray Canterbery, a writer associated with [[Post-Keynesian economics|post-Keynesian]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Canterbery |first=E. Ray |date=March 1983 |title=Tax Reform and Incomes Policy: A VATIP Proposal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01603477.1983.11489381 |journal=Journal of Post Keynesian Economics |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=430–439}}</ref>/[[Keynesian]] economics,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Global Great Recession |url=https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/7896 |access-date=2025-10-13 |website=www.worldscientific.com |language=en |doi=10.1142/7896}}</ref> has argued that Greenspan’s association with Rand negatively influenced his policy.<ref>{{cite book |title=Alan Greenspan: The Oracle Behind the Curtain |url=https://archive.org/details/alangreenspanora0000cant |url-access=registration |last=Canterbery |first=E. Ray |location=Singapore |publisher=[[World Scientific]] |year=2006|isbn=9789812566065 }}</ref>

==Reception==

===Housing bubble===
In the wake of the [[Subprime mortgage crisis|subprime mortgage and credit crisis]] in 2007, Greenspan stated that there was a [[economic bubble|bubble]] in the U.S. housing market, warning in 2007 of "large double digit declines" in home values "larger than most people expect".<ref name="Greenspan admits bubble FT">{{cite news |first=Krishna |last=Guha |title= Greenspan Alert on US House Prices |date=September 17, 2007 |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/31207860-647f-11dc-90ea-0000779fd2ac |access-date=October 17, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921031032/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/31207860-647f-11dc-90ea-0000779fd2ac.html |archive-date=September 21, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> Greenspan also noted, however, "I really didn't get it until very late in 2005 and 2006."<ref>{{cite news|first=Mark |last= Felsenthal |title= Greenspan Says Didn't See Subprime Storm Brewing |date=September 13, 2007 |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSWBT00756820070913 |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref>

Greenspan stated that the housing bubble was "fundamentally engendered by the decline in real long-term interest rates",<ref name="Greenspan interest rates FT">{{cite news |first=Krishna |last=Guha |title=A Global Outlook |work=Financial Times |date=September 16, 2007 |url=https://www.ft.com/content/976b7442-6486-11dc-90ea-0000779fd2ac |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/976b7442-6486-11dc-90ea-0000779fd2ac.html |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=October 17, 2008}}</ref> though he also claims that long-term interest rates are beyond the control of central banks because "the market value of global long-term securities is approaching $100 trillion" and thus these and other asset markets are large enough that they "now swamp the resources of central banks".<ref name="Greenspan mortgage crisis roots WSJ">{{cite web |last=Greenspan |first=Alan |title=The Roots of the Mortgage Crisis |work=Wall Street Journal |date=December 12, 2007 |url=http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010981 |access-date=June 22, 2009 |ref=none}}</ref>

After the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], the [[Federal Open Market Committee]] voted to reduce the [[federal funds rate]] from 3.5% to 3.0%.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/hh/2002/February/FullReport.txt |title = Monetary Policy Report to the Congress |date=February 27, 2002 |access-date=June 17, 2009 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090511163423/http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/hh/2002/February/FullReport.txt |archive-date=May 11, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> Then, after the [[accounting scandals]] of 2002, the Fed dropped the federal funds rate from then current 1.25% to 1.00%.<ref name=hearing>{{cite web |url=http://www.house.gov/jec/hearings/11-13-02.pdf |title=Economic Outlook Hearing before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States |date=November 13, 2002 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=June 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629181728/http://www.house.gov/jec/hearings/11-13-02.pdf |archive-date=June 29, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> Greenspan stated that this drop in rates would have the effect of leading to a surge in home sales and refinancing, adding that "Besides sustaining the demand for new construction, mortgage markets have also been a powerful stabilizing force over the past two years of economic distress by facilitating the extraction of some of the equity that homeowners have built up over the years".<ref name=hearing/>

According to some{{who|date=June 2025}}, however, Greenspan's policies of adjusting interest rates to historic lows contributed to a housing bubble in the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ritholtz |first=Barry |title=Bailout Nation |url=https://archive.org/details/bailoutnationhow0000rith |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Wiley |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-470-52038-3}}</ref> The [[Federal Reserve]] acknowledged the connection between lower interest rates, higher home values, and the increased liquidity the higher home values bring to the overall economy: "Like other asset prices, house prices are influenced by interest rates, and in some countries, the housing market is a key channel of monetary policy transmission."<ref>{{cite report |url= http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/ifdp/2005/841/ifdp841.pdf |title= House Prices and Monetary Policy: A Cross-Country Study |first1= Alan G. |last1=Ahearne |first2=John |last2= Ammer |first3=Brian M. |last3=Doyle |first4=Linda S. |last4=Kole |first5=Robert F. |last5=Martin |date=September 2005 |publisher=Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>

In a February 23, 2004, speech,<ref name="debt">{{cite conference |url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2004/20040223/ |title=Understanding household debt obligations |conference= Credit Union National Association 2004 Governmental Affairs Conference |publisher=[[Federal Reserve Board]] |last=Greenspan |first=Alan |date=February 23, 2004 |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref> Greenspan suggested that more homeowners should consider taking out [[adjustable-rate mortgage]]s (ARMs) where the interest rate adjusts itself to the current interest in the market.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/fed/2004-02-23-greenspan-debt_x.htm |title= Greenspan Says ARMs Might Be Better Deal |work=USA Today |first1=Sue |last1=Kirchhoff |first2=Barbara |last2=Hagenbaugh |date= February 23, 2004 |access-date=June 17, 2009}}</ref> The Fed's own funds rate was at a then all-time-low of 1%. A few months after his recommendation, Greenspan began raising interest rates, in a series of rate hikes that would bring the funds rate to 5.25% about two years later.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/768/81/ |title=Connect the Dots |last=Martenson |first=Chris |date=January 23, 2007 |publisher=Atlantic Free Press |access-date=June 17, 2009 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718195427/http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/768/81/ |archive-date=July 18, 2012}}</ref> A triggering factor in the [[subprime mortgage crisis]] is believed to be the many subprime ARMs that reset at much higher interest rates than what the borrower paid during the first few years of the mortgage.

In 2008, Greenspan expressed great frustration that the February 23 speech was used to criticize him on ARMs and the [[subprime mortgage crisis]], and stated that he had made countervailing comments eight days after it that praised traditional fixed-rate mortgages.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ip |first=Greg |title=His Legacy Tarnished, Greenspan Goes on Defensive |pages=A1 |work=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120760341392296107 |access-date=April 8, 2008 |date=April 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411225037/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120760341392296107.html |archive-date=April 11, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> In that speech, Greenspan had suggested that lenders should offer to home purchasers a greater variety of "mortgage product alternatives" other than traditional fixed-rate mortgages.<ref name="debt" /> Greenspan also praised the rise of the subprime mortgage industry and its tools for assessing credit-worthiness:
{{blockquote|text=Innovation has brought about a multitude of new products, such as subprime loans and niche credit programs for immigrants. Such developments are representative of the market responses that have driven the financial services industry throughout the history of our country&nbsp;... With these advances in technology, lenders have taken advantage of credit-scoring models and other techniques for efficiently extending credit to a broader spectrum of consumers.&nbsp;... Where once more-marginal applicants would simply have been denied credit, lenders are now able to quite efficiently judge the risk posed by individual applicants and to price that risk appropriately. These improvements have led to rapid growth in subprime mortgage lending; indeed, today subprime mortgages account for roughly 10 percent of the number of all mortgages outstanding, up from just 1 or 2 percent in the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite conference |title=Consumer Finance |first=Alan |last=Greenspan |conference=Federal Reserve System's Fourth Annual Community Affairs Research Conference |publisher=[[Federal Reserve Board]] |date=April 8, 2005 |url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/BoardDocs/speeches/2005/20050408/default.htm |access-date=June 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616124302/http://www.federalreserve.gov/BoardDocs/speeches/2005/20050408/default.htm |archive-date=June 16, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

The [[subprime lending|subprime]] mortgage industry collapsed in March 2007, with many of the largest lenders filing for bankruptcy protection in the face of spiraling foreclosure rates. For these reasons, Greenspan has been criticized for his role in the rise of the housing bubble and the subsequent problems in the mortgage industry,<ref>{{cite news |title=The Great Unraveling |author= Roach, Stephen S. |publisher=[[Morgan Stanley]] |date=March 16, 2007 |url=http://www.morganstanley.com/views/gef/archive/2007/20070316-Fri.html |    access-date  =  June 14, 2022 |      archive-url  =  https://web.archive.org/web/20070705213834/http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/184125   |  archive-date  = July 5, 2007 |author-link= Stephen S. Roach }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Who is to Blame for the Mortgage Carnage and Coming Financial Disaster? Unregulated Free Market Fundamentalism Zealotry |author= Roubini, Nouriel | work = RGE Monitor |date=March 19, 2007 |url=http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/184125 | format = Blog |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705213834/http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/184125 |archive-date=July 5, 2007 |author-link=Nouriel Roubini }}</ref> as well as "engineering" the housing bubble itself.

In 2004, ''[[Businessweek]]'' magazine analysts argued: "It was the Federal Reserve-engineered decline in rates that inflated the housing bubble&nbsp;... the most troublesome aspect of the price runup is that many recent buyers are squeezing into houses that they can barely afford by taking advantage of the lower rates available from adjustable-rate mortgages. That leaves them fully exposed to rising rates."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_29/b3892064_mz011.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040714033738/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_29/b3892064_mz011.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 14, 2004 |work= BusinessWeek |date=July 19, 2004 |title=Is A Housing Bubble About To Burst? |author=Coy, Peter |access-date=June 22, 2009|display-authors=etal}}</ref>

In September 2008, [[Joseph Stiglitz]] stated that Greenspan "didn't really believe in regulation; when the excesses of the financial system were noted, (he and others) called for self-regulation—an [[oxymoron]]".<ref>{{cite news|first=Joseph |last=Stiglitz |title=How to Prevent the Next Wall Street Crisis |url= http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/17/stiglitz.crisis/ |work=CNN |date=September 17, 2008}}</ref> Greenspan, according to ''The New York Times'', says he himself is blameless.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jackie |last=Calmes |title=In Washington, Financial Furor Is a First-Rate Chance to Assess Blame |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/business/18cong.html |work=The New York Times |date=September 17, 2008 }}</ref> On April 6, 2005, Greenspan called for a substantial increase in the regulation of [[Fannie Mae]] and [[Freddie Mac]]: "Appearing before the [[United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs|Senate Banking Committee]], the Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan, said the enormous portfolios of the companies—nearly a quarter of the home-mortgage market—posed significant risks to the nation's financial system should either company face significant problems."<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/07/business/07fannie.html |work=The New York Times |title=Limits Urged in Mortgage Portfolios |date=April 7, 2005 |first=Stephen |last=Labaton |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref> Despite this, Greenspan still claims to be a firm believer in free markets, although in his 2007 biography he wrote, "History has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low [[risk premium]]s" as seen before the credit crisis of 2008.

In 2009, [[Robert Reich]] wrote that "Greenspan's worst move was to contribute to the giant housing bubble and the worst worldwide crash since the [[Great Depression]]. In 2004 he lowered interest rates to 1%, enabling banks to borrow money for free, adjusted for inflation. Naturally, the banks wanted to borrow as much as they possibly could, then lend it out, earning nice profits. The situation screamed for government oversight of lending institutions, lest the banks lend to unfit borrowers. He refused, trusting the market to weed out bad credit risks. It did not."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/17/george-bush-alan-greenspan |title= Alan Greenspan by Robert Reich |first=Robert |last=Reich |date=January 17, 2009 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=April 2, 2012 |location=London}}</ref>

In congressional testimony on October 23, 2008, Greenspan finally conceded error on regulation. ''The New York Times'' wrote, "a humbled Mr. Greenspan admitted that he had put too much faith in the self-correcting power of free markets and had failed to anticipate the self-destructive power of wanton mortgage lending&nbsp;... Mr. Greenspan refused to accept blame for the crisis but acknowledged that his belief in deregulation had been shaken". Although many [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] lawmakers tried to blame the housing bubble on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Greenspan placed far more blame on Wall Street for bundling subprime mortgages into securities.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/business/economy/24panel.html |work=The New York Times |date=October 23, 2008 |title=Greenspan Concedes Error on Regulation |last=Andrews |first=Edmund L. |access-date=February 15, 2025}}</ref>

===2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession===
In March 2008, Greenspan wrote an article for the ''[[Financial Times]]''{{'}} Economists' Forum in which he said that the [[2008 financial crisis]] in the United States is likely to be judged as the most wrenching since the end of [[World War&nbsp;II]]. In it he argued: "We will never be able to anticipate all discontinuities in financial markets." He concluded: "It is important, indeed crucial, that any reforms in, and adjustments to, the structure of markets and regulation not inhibit our most reliable and effective safeguards against cumulative economic failure: market flexibility and open competition." The article attracted a number of critical responses from forum contributors, who, finding causation between Greenspan's policies and the discontinuities in financial markets that followed, criticized Greenspan mainly for what many believed to be his unbalanced and immovable ideological suppositions about global capitalism and free competitive markets. Notable critics included [[J.&nbsp;Bradford DeLong]], [[Paul Krugman]], [[Alice Rivlin]], [[Michael Hudson (economist)|Michael Hudson]], and [[Willem Buiter]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.ft.com/wolfforum/2008/03/we-will-never-have-a-perfect-model-of-risk/ |title=We will never have a perfect model of risk |work=Financial Times|last=Greenspan |first=Alan |date=March 17, 2008 |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref>

Greenspan responded to his critics in a follow-up article in which he defended his ideology as applied to his conceptual and policy framework, which, among other things, prohibited him from exerting real pressure against the burgeoning housing bubble or, in his words, "leaning against the wind". Greenspan argued, "My view of the range of dispersion of outcomes has been shaken, but not my judgment that free competitive markets are by far the unrivaled way to organize economies". He concluded: "We have tried regulation ranging from heavy to central planning. None meaningfully worked. Do we wish to retest the evidence?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.ft.com/wolfforum/2008/04/alan-greenspan-a-response-to-my-critics |title=A response to my critics |work= Financial Times|last=Greenspan |first=Alan |date=April 6, 2008 |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref> ''Financial Times'' associate editor and chief economics commentator [[Martin Wolf]] defended Greenspan primarily as a scapegoat for the market turmoil. Several notable contributors in defense of Greenspan included [[Stephen S. Roach]], [[Allan Meltzer]], and Robert Brusca.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ft.com/content/6c50fef0-056a-11dd-a9e0-0000779fd2ac |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6c50fef0-056a-11dd-a9e0-0000779fd2ac.html |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |first=Martin |last=Wolf |title=Why Greenspan Does Not Bear Most of the Blame |work=Financial Times |date=April 8, 2008 |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=September 2025}}

However, an October 15, 2008, article in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' analyzing the origins of the economic crisis claims that Greenspan vehemently opposed any regulation of [[Derivative (finance)|derivatives]], and actively sought to undermine the office of the [[Commodity Futures Trading Commission]] when the commission sought to initiate regulation of derivatives. Meanwhile, Greenspan recommended improving mark-to-market regulations to avoid having derivatives or other complex assets marked to a distressed or illiquid market during times of material adverse conditions seen during the late 2000s credit crisis.<ref>{{cite news |title=What Went Wrong |first1=Anthony |last1=Faiola |first2=Ellen |last2=Nakashima |first3=Jill |last3=Drew |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101403343.html |date=October 15, 2008 |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=A01 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>

Greenspan was not alone in his opposition to derivatives regulation. In a 1999 government report that was a key driver in the passage of the [[Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000]]—legislation that clarified that most [[Over-the-counter (finance)|over-the-counter]] derivatives were outside the regulatory authority of any government agency—Greenspan was joined by Treasury Secretary [[Lawrence Summers]], [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission|Securities and Exchange Commission]] Chairman [[Arthur Levitt]], and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman William Ranier in concluding that "under many circumstances, the trading of financial derivatives by eligible swap participants should be excluded from the CEA" ([[Commodity Exchange Act]]). Other government agencies also supported that view.<ref name=PWG>{{cite report |first1=Lawrence |last1=Summers |first2=Alan |last2=Greenspan |first3=Arthur |last3=Levitt |first4=William |last4=Ranier |title= Over-the-Counter Derivatives Markets and the Commodity Exchange Act: Report of The President's Working Group on Financial Markets |date=November 1999 |url= http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/reports/otcact.pdf |access-date=August 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090825004934/http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/reports/otcact.pdf |archive-date=August 25, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In Congressional testimony on October 23, 2008, Greenspan acknowledged that he was "partially" wrong in opposing regulation and stated "Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder's equity—myself especially—are in a state of shocked disbelief."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Felsenthal |first1=Mark |title=Greenspan "shocked" at credit breakdown |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-financial-greenspan-idUKTRE49M5SJ20081023 |access-date=June 14, 2022 |work=Reuters |publisher=Thomson Reuters |date=October 23, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614182437/https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-financial-greenspan-idUKTRE49M5SJ20081023 |archive-date=June 14, 2022 |location=[[City of London]] |format=Report on meeting of Committee on Oversight and Government Reform |quote=said he was "partially" wrong to resist regulation of some securities}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-10-24/greenspan-admits-some-guilt-over-financial-crisis/551992|title=Greenspan admits some guilt over financial crisis|work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]|date=October 24, 2008|access-date=December 10, 2017}}</ref> Referring to his free-market ideology, Greenspan said: "I have found a flaw. I don't know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact." When Representative [[Henry Waxman]] (D-CA) pressed him to clarify his words. "In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right, it was not working," Waxman said. "Absolutely, precisely", Greenspan replied. "You know, that's precisely the reason I was shocked, because I have been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well."<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |url= https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/greenspans-mea-culpa/|title=Greenspan's Mea Culpa |work=The New York Times |first= David |last= Leonhardt |date=October 23, 2008 |access-date=June 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621063537/https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/greenspans-mea-culpa/ |archive-date=June 21, 2009 |url-status=live|author-link=David Leonhardt }}</ref> Greenspan admitted fault<ref name="The Monthly">{{cite web |url=http://themonthly.com.au/node/1785/page/1 |title=Comment: The Corporate Fallacy |work= The Monthly |first=Noel |last=Pearson |date=July 2009}}</ref> in opposing regulation of derivatives and acknowledged that financial institutions didn't protect shareholders and investments as well as he expected.

[[Matt Taibbi]] described the [[Greenspan put]] and its bad consequences saying: "every time the banks blew up a speculative bubble, they could go back to the Fed and borrow money at zero or one or two percent, and then start the game all over", thereby making it "almost impossible" for the banks to lose money.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/2/22/matt_taibbi_why_isnt_wall_street_in_jail|title=Matt Taibbi: "Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?" (Complete Interview) |date=February 22, 2011 |work=[[Democracy Now!]] |access-date=May 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518172718/http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/2/22/matt_taibbi_why_isnt_wall_street_in_jail |archive-date=May 18, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> He also called Greenspan a "classic [[Confidence trick|con man]]" who, through political savvy, "flattered and bullshitted his way up the [[Matterhorn]] of American power and&nbsp;... jacked himself off to the attention of Wall Street for 20 consecutive years".<ref name="taibbi">{{cite book |first=Matt |last=Taibbi |author-link=Matt Taibbi |title=Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America |publisher=[[Spiegel & Grau]] |year=2010 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/griftopiabubblem0000taib/page/35 35–36] |isbn=978-0-385-52995-2 |title-link=Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America }}</ref>

In the documentary film ''[[Inside Job (2010 film)|Inside Job]]'', Greenspan is cited as one of the persons responsible for the [[2008 financial crisis]]. He is also named in [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] as one of the "25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1877351,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414072623/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1877351,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 14, 2009 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |title=Complete List&nbsp;– 25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis |access-date=May 1, 2013}}</ref>

===Political views and alleged politicization of office===
Greenspan describes himself as a "lifelong [[libertarian Republican]]".<ref name="TurbWSJ" /> Some [[Free market|free-market]] critics argue that Greenspan abandoned his libertarian ideals as [[Chair of the Federal Reserve|Federal Reserve Chair]]. Greenspan was once a proponent of [[Hard currency|sound money]] and [[limited government]] but later backed policies that countered these principles such as prolonged artificially low interest rates.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-03-21 |title=The Fed's Faustian Bargain - WSJ |work=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-feds-faustian-bargain-1449445232 |access-date=2025-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321070425/https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-feds-faustian-bargain-1449445232 |archive-date=March 21, 2018 |last1=Chancellor |first1=Edward }}</ref>{{sfn|Greenspan|2007|p=}}{{pn|date=May 2025}} Critics argue that these policies contributed to [[Economic bubble|asset bubbles]] and [[moral hazard]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fleckenstein |first=William A. |url=https://archive.org/details/greenspansbubble0000flec |title=Greenspan's bubbles : the age of ignorance at the Federal Reserve |date=2008 |publisher=New York : McGraw-Hill |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-07-159158-4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Woods |first=Thomas E. |url=https://archive.org/details/MeltdownAFreeMarketLookAtWhyTheStockMarketCollapsed.--ThomasE.Woods/page/n17/mode/2up |title=Meltdown A Free Market Look At Why The Stock Market Collapsed |language=English}}</ref>

In March 2005, in reaction to Greenspan's support of President [[George W. Bush]]'s plan to [[Social Security debate (United States)|partially privatize]] [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]], then-Democratic Senate Minority Leader [[Harry Reid]] attacked Greenspan as "one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington"<ref name="Inside"/><ref name="washtime"/> and criticized him for supporting Bush's 2001 tax cut plan.<ref name="Andrews"/> Then-Democratic House Minority Leader [[Nancy Pelosi]] added that there were serious questions about the Fed's independence as a result of Greenspan's public statements.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/transcript-nancy-pelosi-on-fox-news-sunday |title=Transcript: Nancy Pelosi on 'FOX News Sunday' |work=Fox News |date=March 6, 2005 |access-date=June 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727180040/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,149556,00.html |archive-date=July 27, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> Greenspan also received criticism from Democratic Congressman [[Barney Frank]] and others for supporting Bush's Social Security plans favoring private accounts.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/greenspan-supports-ownership-concept-in-social-security |title=Greenspan Supports 'Ownership' Concept in Social Security |work=Fox News |date=February 17, 2005 |access-date=June 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090728051810/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,147972,00.html |archive-date=July 28, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5396-2005Mar3.html |title=Senate Democratic Leader Blasts Greenspan |newspaper= The Washington Post |first=Dan |last=Balz |date=March 4, 2005 |page=A06 |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/barney-frank-sa.html |title=Barney Frank Says Race a Factor in Subprime Blame Game |work=Political Punch |first=Jake |last=Tapper |date=October 7, 2008 |publisher=ABC News |access-date=June 22, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091108150044/http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/barney-frank-sa.html |archive-date=November 8, 2009}}</ref> Greenspan had said Bush's model has "the seeds of developing full funding by its very nature. As I've said before, I've always supported moves to full funding in the context of a private account".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/SocialSecurity/5-02-16GreenspanSays.htm |title=Greenspan Likes Social Security Private Accounts, But Urges Caution |publisher=Senior Journal |date=February 17, 2005 |access-date=June 22, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727000810/http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/SocialSecurity/5-02-16GreenspanSays.htm |archive-date=July 27, 2009}}</ref>

Others, like Republican Senator [[Mitch McConnell]], disagreed that Greenspan was too deferential to Bush, stating that Greenspan "has been an independent player at the Fed for a long time under both parties and made an enormous positive contribution".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7108135 |work=Meet the Press |title=Transcript for March&nbsp;6 |publisher=NBC News |date=March 6, 2005 |access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref>

Economist Paul Krugman wrote that Greenspan was a "three-card maestro" with a "lack of sincerity" who, "by repeatedly shilling for whatever the Bush administration wants, has betrayed the trust placed in the Fed chairman".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/opinion/18krugman.html |title=Three-card Maestro |first=Paul |last=Krugman |work=The New York Times |date=February 18, 2005 |access-date=November 10, 2007}}</ref>

Republican Senator [[Jim Bunning]], who opposed Greenspan's fifth reconfirmation, charged that Greenspan should comment only on monetary policy, not fiscal policy.<ref name="bloom">{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aRR5whQ7nGvE&refer=top_world_news |title=Greenspan Says U.S. Must Adjust Retirement Programs (Update1) |date=August 27, 2004 |publisher=Bloomberg L.P. |access-date=October 26, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050921152916/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087 |archive-date=September 21, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='Stark' budget choices |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-08-28-0408280145-story.html |access-date=June 14, 2022 |work=Chicago Tribune |agency=[[Bloomberg News]] |publisher=Tribune Publishing |date=August 28, 2004 |quote=If we have promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver to retirees without unduly diminishing real income gains of workers, as I fear we may have, we must recalibrate our public programs so that pending retirees have time to adjust through other channels...}}</ref> Greenspan had used his position as Fed chairman to comment upon fiscal policy as early as 1993, however, when he supported [[Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993|President Clinton's deficit reduction plan]], which included tax increases and budget cuts.{{Sfn|Woodward|2000|p=110}}

In an October 2011 lecture addressing the [[Occupy movement]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |title=Occupy |year=2012 |location=London |isbn=978-0-241-96401-9 |pages=33–34 |publisher=Penguin |author-link=Noam Chomsky}}</ref> [[Noam Chomsky]] characterized portions of Greenspan's February 1997 testimony to the U.S. Senate as an example of the self-serving attitudes of the so-called 1%. In that testimony, Greenspan had stated that growing worker insecurity is a significant factor keeping inflation and inflation expectation low, thereby promoting long-term investment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/hh/1997/february/testimony.htm|title=FRB: Testimony, Greenspan&nbsp;– Humphrey-Hawkins&nbsp;– February 26, 1997|website=www.federalreserve.gov|access-date=January 25, 2017}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Alan Greenspan and Andrea Mitchell.jpg|thumb|Greenspan and wife Andrea Mitchell in 2000]]
He celebrated a marriage to Canadian artist Joan Mitchell in October 1952,{{Sfn|Mallaby|2016|p=62}} but this was declared [[annullment|invalid]] (not a legally completed marriage) 10 months later.{{Sfn|Martin|2000|p=[https://archive.org/details/greenspanmanbehi00mart/page/34 34]}} He dated newswoman [[Barbara Walters]] in the late 1970s.{{Sfn|Martin|2000|p=[https://archive.org/details/greenspanmanbehi00mart/page/129 129]}} 

In December 1984, Greenspan began dating journalist [[Andrea Mitchell]].{{Sfn|Mallaby|2016|p=305}} Greenspan at the time was 58 and Mitchell was 38. In April 1997, they were married by Supreme Court Justice [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]].{{Sfn|Martin|2000|pp=[https://archive.org/details/greenspanmanbehi00mart/page/217 217–218]}} Because of the annulment, the marriage to Mitchell is legally considered his first marriage.{{cn|date=December 2025}}

==Honors==
[[File:Greenspan, Alan (Whitehouse).jpg|thumb|right|President [[George W. Bush]] presents the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] to Alan Greenspan, on November 9, 2005, in the [[East Room]] of the [[White House]].]]

*[[File:Presidential Medal of Freedom (ribbon).svg|60px]]&nbsp;&nbsp;[[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] The highest civilian award in the United States, by President George W. Bush in November 2005.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Citations for Recipients of the 2005 Presidential Medal of Freedom |publisher=[[White House Press Secretary]] |date=September 9, 2005 |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051109-10.html |access-date=October 17, 2008}}</ref>
*[[File:US DoD Distinguished Public Service Award BAR.svg|60px]]&nbsp;&nbsp;[[Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service]] January 23, 2006.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Alan Greenspan Receives Defense Department Distinguished Public Service Award |publisher=[[United States Department of Defense]] |date=January 23, 2006 |url=http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=9252 |access-date=December 29, 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114025721/http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=9252 |archive-date=January 14, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Greenspan receives Dept of Defense medal  |url=https://www.centralbanking.com/central-banking/news/1430161/greenspan-receives-dept-defense-medal |website=Central Banking |date=January 27, 2006 |access-date=September 11, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
*[[File:Legion Honneur Commandeur ribbon.svg|60px]]&nbsp;&nbsp;[[Legion of Honour|Commander of the Legion of Honour]] (France) 2000.
*[[File:Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon.png|60px]]&nbsp;&nbsp;[[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (United Kingdom) 2002.<ref>Batra, Ravi (2005); ''Greenspan's Fraud: How Two Decades of His Policies Have Undermined the Global Economy''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. {{ISBN|1-4039-6859-4}}. {{OCLC|57169884}}. See [https://books.google.com/books?id=rhs28P_LGLYC&dq=Legion+of+Honor+alan+greenspan&pg=PA3 p.3].</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/07/davidteather |title=Greenspan to get honorary knighthood  |last=Teather |first=David |date=August 7, 2002 |website=The Guardian |publisher= |access-date=September 11, 2021 |quote=}}</ref>

In 1976, Greenspan received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by [[Jefferson Awards for Public Service|Jefferson Awards]].<ref>[http://www.jeffersonawards.org/about-historic-highlights "Historic highlights page with picture of 1976 winner Alan Greenspan"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921225746/http://www.jeffersonawards.org/about-historic-highlights |date=September 21, 2013 }}, Jefferson Awards web site. Retrieved July 31, 2013.</ref>

In 1989, Greenspan was elected as a [[fellow of the American Statistical Association]].<ref>[http://www.amstat.org/awards/fellowslist.cfm View/Search Fellows of the ASA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616161612/http://www.amstat.org/awards/fellowslist.cfm |date=June 16, 2016 }}, accessed November 19, 2016.</ref>

Greenspan was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Alan+Greenspan&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=July 15, 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

On September 26, 2002, Greenspan received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/knighted-but-not-sir-alan/ |title=Knighted, But Not 'Sir Alan' |date=September 26, 2002 |publisher=CBS News |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

In 2004, Greenspan received the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service, from Eisenhower Fellowships. In 2005, he became the first recipient of the Harry S. Truman Medal for Economic Policy, presented by the Harry S. Truman Library Institute. In 2007, Greenspan was the recipient of the inaugural Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Citizen Leadership, presented by the [[University of Virginia]].

On April 19, 2012, Greenspan received the [[Eugene J. Keogh]] Award for Distinguished Public Service from NYU.<ref>{{cite news |url = http://alumni.nyu.edu/s/1068/2col.aspx?sid=1068&gid=1&pgid=631 |title=NYU Alumni Association Awards Past Recipients |publisher=New York University |access-date=January 7, 2013}}</ref>

===Scholastic===

; Honorary Degrees
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
! style="width:20%;"| Location
! style="width:20%;"| Date
! style="width:40%;"| School
! style="width:20%;"| Degree
! style="width:20%;"| Gave Commencement Address
|-
| {{Flagu|Indiana}} || '''May 21, 1995''' || [[University of Notre Dame]] || [[Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web |title=University of Notre Dame Honorary Degree Recipients 1844- 2019 |url=https://commencement.nd.edu/assets/408572/honorary_degrees_archive_by_date.pdf |website=University of Notre Dame |access-date=September 11, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> ||  
|-
| {{Flagu|Pennsylvania}} || '''1998''' || [[University of Pennsylvania]] || Doctor of Laws (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web |title=Chronological Listing of Honorary Degree Recipients of the University of Pennsylvania |url=https://secretary.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Chronological-Penn-HDR-Listing_0.pdf |website=University of Pennsylvania |access-date=September 11, 2021 |language=en |archive-date=June 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629122212/https://secretary.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Chronological-Penn-HDR-Listing_0.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> ||  
|-
| {{Flagu|Massachusetts}} || '''June 10, 1999''' || [[Harvard University]] || Doctor of Laws (LL.D)<ref>{{cite web |title=Harvard University Honorary Degree Recipients 1994-2019
|url=https://commencement.harvard.edu/files/commencement/files/1994-2019_honorary_degree_recipients.pdf?m=1605796366 |website=Harvard University |access-date=September 11, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> || Yes<ref>{{cite web |title=Remarks by Chairman Alan Greenspan Commencement address Harvard University |url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/1999/199906102.htm |website=The Federal Reserve |access-date=September 11, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagu|Connecticut}} || '''1999''' || [[Yale University]] || [[Doctor of Humane Letters]] (DHL)<ref>{{cite web |title=Yale University Honorary Degrees Since 1702
|url=https://secretary.yale.edu/programs-services/honorary-degrees/since-1702?field_degrees_value=All&field_year_value=All&keys=Greenspan |website=Yale University |access-date=September 11, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> ||  
|-
| {{Flagu|Scotland}} || '''2005''' || [[University of Edinburgh]] || Doctorate<ref>{{cite web |title=University of Edinburgh Honorary Degree Recipients Database |url=http://www.scripts.sasg.ed.ac.uk/registry/Graduations/Honorary_Graduates.cfm |website=University of Edinburgh |access-date=September 11, 2021 |language=en |archive-date=September 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150901034227/http://www.scripts.sasg.ed.ac.uk/registry/Graduations/Honorary_Graduates.cfm |url-status=dead }}</ref> ||  
|-
| {{Flagu|New York}} || '''December 14, 2005''' || [[New York University]] || Doctor of Commercial Science<ref>{{cite web |title=Alan Greenspan and Gordon Brown Receive Honorary Degrees From NYU, December 14, 2005 |url=https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2005/december/alan_greenspan_and_gordon.html |website=New York University |access-date=September 11, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>  ||  
|-
|}

{{Incomplete list|date=September 2021}}

==Books==
*''1993 Monetary Policy Objectives: midyear review of the Federal Reserve Board'' (1993)
*''William Taylor Memorial Lectures 3: Global Risk Management'' (1996)
*''The Quotations of Chairman Greenspan: Words from the Man Who Can Shake the World'' (2000)
*''[[The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World]]'' (2007)
*''Finance and Economics Discussion Series: Sources and Uses of Equity Extracted from Homes'' (2013)
*''Finance and Economics Discussion Series: Estimates of Home Mortgage Originations, Repayments, and Debt on One-to-Four-Family Residences'' (2013)
*''[[The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting]]'' (2013)
*''[[The Map and the Territory 2.0: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting]]'' (2014)
*''Finance and Economics Discussion Series: Motor Vehicle Stocks, Scrappage, and Sales'' (2015)
*''[[Capitalism in America: A History]]'' (2018)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/capitalism-america-history | title = A book review  | first = Craig R. |last = Roach  |work=New York Journal of Books |date=October 16, 2018  |archive-date =  July 25, 2020           | archive-url =  https://web.archive.org/web/20200725023802/https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/capitalism-america-history |access-date=June 14, 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of United States political appointments across party lines]]
* [[Fedspeak]]
* [[Irrational exuberance]]
* [[Greenspan Commission]]

==References==
{{Clear}}
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

===Works cited===
*{{Cite book |title=The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World |last=Greenspan |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Greenspan |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-59420-131-8 |oclc=122973403 |title-link=The Age of Turbulence}}
*{{Cite book |last=Mallaby |first=Sebastian |title=The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Press |year=2016 |isbn=9781594204845}}
*{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Justin |title=Greenspan: The Man behind Money |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |year=2000 |oclc=45188865 |isbn=978-0738202754 |url=https://archive.org/details/greenspanmanbehi00mart }}
*{{Cite book |last=Woodward |first=Bob |author-link=Bob Woodward |title=Maestro: Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2000 |isbn=0-7432-0412-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/maestrogreenspan00wood}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite news |title=After Alan |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |page=29 |date=October 13, 2005 |url=https://www.economist.com/united-states/2005/10/13/after-alan |access-date=January 7, 2013}}
*{{Cite book |last=Fleckenstein |first=William |title=Greenspan's Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-07-159158-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/greenspansbubble0000flec }}
*{{Cite news |first1=Steven |last1=Gjerstad |first2=Vernon L. |last2=Smith |title=From Bubble to Depression? Why the Housing Bubble Crashed the Financial System but the Dot-com Bubble Did Not |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123897612802791281 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150213021712/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123897612802791281 | archive-date=February 13, 2015|work=Wall Street Journal |page=A15 |date=April 6, 2009 |name-list-style=amp}}
*{{Cite journal |last1=Blinder |first1=Alan S. |first2=Ricardo |last2=Reis |title=Understanding the Greenspan Standard |journal=Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Proceedings |date=August 2005 |issue=Aug |pages=11–96 |url=https://ideas.repec.org/a/fip/fedkpr/y2005iaugp11-96.html}}
*{{Cite book |last=Tuccille |first=Jerome |title=Alan Shrugged: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan, the World's Most Powerful Banker |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |publisher=Wiley |year=2002 |isbn=0-471-39906-X |url=https://archive.org/details/alanshruggedlife00tucc }}
*{{cite book|last=Meltzer|first=Allan H.|author-link=Allan H. Meltzer|title=A History of the Federal Reserve – Volume 2, Book 2: 1970–1986|year=2009|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|place=Chicago|pages=886–1255|isbn=978-0226213514}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote}}
*{{cite web |last1=Rivlin |first1=Alice |last2=Mallory |first2=Sebastian |title=After Words |url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?416867-1%2Fafter-words-sebastian-mallaby |website=C-SPAN |access-date=July 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718225559/https://www.c-span.org/video/?416867-1%2Fafter-words-sebastian-mallaby |archive-date=July 18, 2022 |format=Video of conversation about ''The Man Who Knew'' |date=October 17, 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown }}
*{{C-SPAN|177}}
*{{Charlie Rose view|6171}}
*{{IMDb name|2325162}}
*{{Guardian topic}}
*{{NYTtopic|people/g/alan_greenspan}}
*[https://lccn.loc.gov/mm2014085936 Alan Greenspan papers] at the [[Library of Congress]]

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Herbert Stein]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the [[Council of Economic Advisers]]|years=1974–1977}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Charles Schultze]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[Paul Volcker]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the [[Federal Reserve Board of Governors]]|years=1987–2006}}
{{s-aft|rows=2|after=[[Ben Bernanke]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chair of the Federal Reserve|Chairman of the Federal Reserve]]|years=1987–2006}}
{{s-end}}

{{USFedRes}}
{{CEA Chairs}}
{{Dot-com Bubble}}
{{Neoliberalism}}
{{Authority control}}

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