world-economy

Alan Greenspan, Towering Fed Chair Through Boom and Bust, Dead at 100

Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman who steered the central bank through 19 years of economic expansion before presiding over the lead-up to the 2008 financial crisis, has died at 100. Greenspan helmed the Fed across four presidential administrations, earning widespread acclaim as a master of monetary policy during an extended period of growth. His legacy, however, became contested after the financial system's collapse less than two years following his 2006 departure, with critics pointing to his tenure's role in enabling the conditions that triggered the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Former Federal Reserve officials have acknowledged Greenspan's instrumental role in fueling American prosperity while conceding the policy risks that accumulated beneath the surface of that prosperity.