Overview
- The Federal Reserve and Greenspan’s wife, NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell, confirmed on Monday that Alan Greenspan died at age 100 from complications of Parkinson’s disease.
- Greenspan led the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, a period of prolonged low inflation and long economic expansion that established his reputation as a powerful central banker.
- His crisis‑response habit of cutting rates and supplying liquidity after shocks helped calm markets but also fostered expectations that the Fed would intervene, a practice often called the “Greenspan Put.”
- Critics say Greenspan’s long low‑rate policy and reluctance to press for tighter oversight helped fuel rising household debt and the U.S. housing boom that contributed to the 2007–2008 financial collapse, a point Greenspan partly acknowledged in 2008 when he told Congress he had made a mistake about banks self‑regulating.
- Coverage across major outlets highlights the split legacy he leaves: widely praised for stabilizing markets and supporting growth yet blamed for policies and attitudes that increased systemic risk, a debate likely to shape future views of central‑bank power and regulation.