Alan Greenspan, Longtime Fed Chair And “Maestro” Of Markets, Dies At 100

Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman who led the central bank from 1987 to 2006, under four presidents, died at 100 from complications of Parkinson’s disease, NBC News reported.

Greenspan became known as the “maestro” of monetary policy, spanning one of the longest and strongest economic expansions in U.S. history, marked by booming stocks, rising home prices, low unemployment, and confidence that he could steer markets through financial crises.

“Alan passed away at our home this morning at the age of 100 from complications of Parkinson’s disease,” stated his wife of 29 years, Andrea Mitchell, who is the chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News.

Mitchell said, “He was a giant of a man who helped shape the U.S. economy for decades under presidents of both parties, but was always honest in acknowledging his mistakes.”

“To me he was my husband, who shaped my life from our very first date in 1984. He had ‘irrational exuberance’ for baseball, the Washington Commanders, tennis, golf and music, especially jazz,” Mitchell continued, adding, “He will be remembered for his brilliance and his kindness. Being his life partner was the joy of my life.”

Greenspan’s legacy came into question in the final years of his term. The maestro was reluctant to confront asset bubbles, and his hands-off approach to the mortgage and derivatives markets helped inflate the housing bubble leading up to the financial crisis of 2008.

Greenspan later acknowledged errors in his free-market assumptions…

“Those of us who have looked to the self- interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief,” the maestro told lawmakers in 2008.

Greenspan also told lawmakers, “I was right 70% of the time, but I was wrong 30% of the time.”

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s final report stated:

“More than 30 years of deregulation and reliance on self-regulation by financial institutions, championed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and others, supported by successive administrations and Congresses, and actively pushed by the powerful financial industry at every turn, had stripped away key safeguards, which could have helped avoid catastrophe.”

Greenspan’s tenure was the second-longest for a Fed chief, right behind that of William McChesney Martin Jr. He was succeeded by Ben Bernanke, who eventually kept rates at the uncharted “zero lower bound” territory for several years to stimulate the economy after the GFC.