Dr. Alan Greenspan, KBE (born March 6, 1926) is an American economist and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States. He is considered by many to be the leading authority and key participant concerning American domestic economic and monetary policy. For example, he has been instrumental in how the U.S. government deals with inflation. Given the breadth of his experience, he has been referred to in the media as "the economist's economist" and "maestro".

Greenspan was born in New York City and subsequently earned a Master's degree in Economics in 1950 from New York University, and a Ph.D. in Economics in 1977. He also attended Columbia University for advanced graduate study.

During the 50's and 60's Greenspan was associated with author-philosopher Ayn Rand and her Objectivist movement, advocating capitalism as a social and economic philosophy. He authored articles for Objectivist newsletters, and contributed a chapter for Rand's 1966 book Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal. Greenspan was also a strong advocate of the gold standard, somewhat of an irony given his later chairmanship of the Federal Government's monetary policy agency.

During his career, Greenspan served on numerous corporate boards, where he gained useful insights for his role at the Federal Reserve.

Today Mr. Greenspan is Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Board, an office he first took on August 11, 1987. On May 18, 2004, he was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve for an unprecedented fifth term. He has been appointed to this post by U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. From 1974 to 1977, he was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Gerald Ford.

His honorary titles include Knight Commander of the British Empire, bestowed in 2002 and Commander of the Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honor).

He is married to NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell.

Greenspan's term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve is set to expire in June 2008, and he is not eligible for renomination to a sixth term in that position (his separate term as a member of the Board ends in January 2006).

Quotations

• "But how do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions as they have in Japan over the past decade?", Francis Boyer Lecture of The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C., December 5, 1996 [1]

• "Once stock prices reach the point at which it is hard to value them by logical methodology, stocks will be bought as they were in the late 1920s not for investment but to be unloaded at a still higher price. The ensuing break could be disastrous because panic psychology cannot be summarily altered or reversed by easing money policies." Greenspan in 1959. [2]

• "An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense - perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire - that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument of laissez-faire and that each implies and requires the other." "Gold and Economic Freedom", by Alan Greenspan, 1966.

External links

• "Think Again: Alan Greenspan" from Foreign Policy Magazine
• Official Federal Reserve biography
• 1996 speech by Greenspan about the challenges of central banking
• 2003 speech by Greenspan about "Market Economies and Rule of Law"
• Educate Yourself-Greenspan --The Chairman...through the years
• Alan Greenspan's political donations

Criticism

• Fleck on Greenspan
• Making Economic Sense - Chapter 83