Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan (born March 6, 1926) is an American economist who served as the 13th Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board from August 11, 1987, to January 31, 2006, overseeing monetary policy during a period of sustained economic expansion and low inflation. Educated at New York University with degrees in economics, Greenspan initially gained prominence as a private consultant and advisor, including roles under Presidents Ford and Reagan, before his appointment to the Federal Reserve by President Reagan to succeed Paul Volcker. His tenure is noted for deft responses to crises, such as the 1987 stock market crash, where rapid interest rate cuts averted deeper recession, and for fostering the "Great Moderation"—a era of reduced volatility in output and prices that supported robust GDP growth and productivity gains in the 1990s and early 2000s. However, Greenspan's policies, including prolonged low interest rates post-2001 recession and advocacy for financial deregulation, have been criticized for contributing to asset bubbles, particularly in housing, which precipitated the 2008 financial crisis; in congressional testimony, he acknowledged a "flaw" in his assumption that markets would self-regulate risk adequately. An associate of philosopher Ayn Rand in his youth, Greenspan's worldview emphasized free markets and limited government intervention, influencing his approach to central banking that prioritized inflation control over preempting speculative excesses.

Alan Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, to parents of Eastern European Jewish descent: his mother, Rose Goldsmith, a Hungarian immigrant, and his father, Herbert Greenspan, whose family originated from Romania. The couple's marriage dissolved when Greenspan was five years old, leaving Rose to raise him alone in a modest one-bedroom apartment shared with her parents, Greenspan's maternal grandparents. Rose supported the household as a retail sales clerk, often in furniture stores across the Harlem River in the Bronx, instilling in her son a sense of self-reliance amid financial constraints typical of immigrant working-class families during the Great Depression's aftermath.