Alan Greenspan (born 1926) served as the 13th Chair of the United States Federal Reserve from August 1987 to January 2006, a nearly two-decade tenure spanning four presidents. Weeks into his chairmanship he faced the Black Monday crash of October 1987, responding with a public statement affirming the Fed's readiness to supply liquidity to the financial system, a response widely credited with containing the crash's spread into the wider economy. In 1996 he coined the phrase 'irrational exuberance' to warn of speculative excess in asset markets, a warning that proved ineffective at heading off the dot-com bubble that followed. His later legacy is contested: critics have argued that his low-interest-rate policy in the early 2000s fed both the dot-com bubble's aftermath and the housing bubble that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
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Greenspan, weeks into his chairmanship, responded the next morning with a statement affirming the Fed's readiness to supply liquidity, widely credited with containing the crash's spread into the wider economy.
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Dot-com Bubble, Events Greenspan's 1996 'irrational exuberance' speech warned of the speculative climate that produced the bubble; critics later argued his own low-interest-rate policy helped fuel it.
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Associated With School
The same source names Greenspan's orientation as Austrian as well as monetarist; his early career included essays defending the gold standard for Ayn Rand's Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966).
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Alongside Paul Volcker, already tied to this school on this atlas; Greenspan's Fed chairmanship is described in the same source as fundamentally monetarist in orientation.
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Source Wikipedia: Black Monday (1987)tier 2
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Source Wikipedia: Irrational Exuberancetier 2
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1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationAlan Greenspan, Career Overview
Greenspan served as the 13th Chair of the Federal Reserve from August 1987 to January 2006, overseeing monetary policy during a transformative period that included both economic expansion and financial crises.
Alan Greenspan, lead section
Alan Greenspan (born March 6, 1926)
Article body, sentence stating his death
at his home in Washington, D.C., on June 22, 2026, at the
Associated With: Black Monday (1987), Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve
The Fed affirmed today its readiness to serve as a source of liquidity to support the economic and financial system.
Associated With: Dot-com Bubble, Alan Greenspan, Legacy
In 1996, Greenspan became famous for the phrase "irrational exuberance" in a speech intended to warn of what became the dot-com bubble, though the remark proved ineffective long-term.
Associated With School: Monetarist Economics, Alan Greenspan, Economic philosophy section
Greenspan has been described as fundamentally a monetarist and Austrian economist in orientation on the economy.
Associated With School: Austrian School, Alan Greenspan, Economic philosophy section
Greenspan has been described as fundamentally a monetarist and Austrian economist in orientation on the economy.
View the Source Alan Greenspan (Wikipedia)
Lead section
Alan Greenspan (March 6, 1926 - June 22, 2026) was an American economist who served as the 13th chair of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006.
In Group: Central Bankers and Monetary Policymakers, Lead
Alan Greenspan (March 6, 1926, June 22, 2026) was an American economist who served as the 13th chair of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006.
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