Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman who steered U.S. monetary policy for nearly two decades and popularized the phrase "irrational exuberance," has died at age 100. The longtime central banker passed away Monday at his home from complications of Parkinson's Disease, according to his wife, Andrea Mitchell, NBC News' chief Washington correspondent. Greenspan served as Fed chairman from 1987 to 2006, a tenure that saw both the dot-com boom and bust, and his policies were later scrutinized for contributing to the 2008 financial crisis.
A career defined by booms, busts and 'Fedspeak'
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Greenspan took office just 69 days before the 1987 stock market crash, known as Black Monday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 22.6% in a single day. His swift response — promising liquidity and cutting interest rates — helped stabilize markets and earned him the nickname "the Maestro." Over the next two decades, he became one of the most powerful economic figures in the world, with financial markets hanging on his every word. His famously opaque speaking style, which he later admitted was "purposeful obfuscation" to avoid giving direct answers, became known as "Fedspeak."
Greenspan's most famous moment came in a 1996 speech when he asked, "How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values?" The comment triggered a 3% drop in Tokyo's stock market and rippled across global exchanges, though markets quickly recovered. The phrase later became synonymous with the dot-com bubble that burst in 2001. Critics argue that his low-interest-rate policies during his tenure helped inflate the housing bubble that led to the 2008 Great Recession, a charge Greenspan acknowledged in part, saying he was "honest in acknowledging his mistakes."
From jazz musician to central bank chief
Born in 1926 in New York's Washington Heights, Greenspan studied clarinet and saxophone at Juilliard and briefly played in Woody Herman's jazz band before turning to economics. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from New York University and eventually a Ph.D. at age 51. His mentors included future Fed Chairman Arthur Burns and novelist Ayn Rand, whose free-market philosophy influenced his thinking. Before leading the Fed, Greenspan ran a consulting firm and served as chairman of President Gerald Ford's Council of Economic Advisers.
Greenspan's five terms at the Fed made him the second-longest-serving chairman, just four months short of William McChesney Martin's record. He was succeeded by Ben Bernanke, who navigated the 2008 crisis and praised Greenspan as "a great central banker who helped lead his country through almost two decades of prosperity." The Federal Reserve said in a statement that his "contributions to monetary policy and economic thought left a lasting mark on this institution, on the broader field of economics, and on the country."