Former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan Dies at 100

Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has died at the age of 100. The news was confirmed by his wife of 29 years, Andrea Mitchell, who stated he passed away due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. Mitchell is the chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News.

Greenspan began his tenure as Fed chairman in 1987 after being appointed by President Ronald Reagan. He held the position through periods of economic turmoil and prosperity until his retirement in 2006. His term was the second-longest in the institution’s history, falling just four months short of the record held by William McChesney Martin, who led the Fed from 1951 to 1970.

Greenspan is particularly remembered for coining the phrase ‘irrational exuberance’ during a televised speech on 5 December 1996, a warning that briefly roiled global markets. He questioned how one could know when irrational exuberance had unduly escalated asset values, subjecting them to unexpected and prolonged contractions, as had occurred in Japan. The Tokyo stock market plunged 3% following his remarks, though markets quickly recovered and continued to rise until the dot-com crash in 2001.

Born to Jewish parents on 6 March 1926 in New York, Greenspan earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics before completing his Ph.D. in 1977 at the age of 51.