Greenspan, Alan (1926-…), an American economist, served as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly called the Fed, from 1987 to 2006. The Fed is an independent federal agency that directs the United States banking system and helps control the nation’s interest rates and money supply. Greenspan was appointed chairman by President Ronald Reagan. He was reappointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1991, by President Bill Clinton in 1996 and 2000, and by President George W. Bush in 2004. Greenspan is a conservative economist and an advocate of laissez faire, a theory that government should not interfere in most economic affairs.
Greenspan earned praise for helping the United States avoid a depression following a stock market crash in 1987. He acted quickly to ensure that the Fed could provide adequate cash to banks after stock prices plunged. Many experts believed his leadership helped sustain the long economic expansion in the United States in the 1990’s. After Greenspan’s retirement from the Fed in 2006, however, some experts believed that the credit and banking crisis of 2008 had been caused, or at least worsened, by Greenspan’s opposition to government regulation in the financial markets. A memoir by Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence, was published in 2007.
Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926, in New York City. He earned B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in economics from New York University. From 1974 to 1977, he was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford. From 1958 to 1987, except for his three years with the council, he served as chairman and president of Townsend-Greenspan & Co., Inc., an economics consulting firm in New York City.
