GREENSPAN, ALAN

GREENSPAN, ALAN (1926– ), U.S. economist. Born in New York City, Greenspan received a B.S. in economics (summa cum laude) in 1948, an M.A. in economics in 1950, and a Ph.D. in economics in 1977, all from New York University. For many years Greenspan headed an independent economic consulting firm in New York, mainly for major corporations   and institutions, including the United States Tresury and the Board of Governors of the Feeral Reserve System. He also served as a senior adviser to the Brookings Institution Panel on Economic Activity. In 1974 he was appointed by President Nixon to succeed Herbert Stein as chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. He was chairman of the National Commission on Social Security Reform from 1981 to 1983. He also served as a member of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board, a member of Time magazine's Board of Economists, and a consultant to the Congressional Budget Office. Greenspan was known for his conservative economic views, which he developed partly under the influence of Ayn Rand. (Joachim O. Ronall) Greenspan also served as a corporate director for Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa); Automatic Data Processing, Inc.; Capital Cities/ABC, Inc; General Foods, Inc; J.P. Morgan & Co, Inc; Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York; Mobil Corporation; and The Pittston Company. In 1987 he was nominated to the position of chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Given the U.S.'s large budget deficit, which prevented the presidential and legislative arms of the administration from effectively utilizing tax and spending policies to influence the economy, this made him the most important economic policy-maker in the government, since he was able to exert a considerable influence over interest rates by controlling the money supply. Declaring his intention to "try to maintain the maximum sustainable long-term economic growth that is possible," he presided over a period of slow but steady economic growth until the summer of 1990, at which time recession hit the American economy. Despite critics' complaints that he first retarded economic expansion by keeping interest rates too high and then moved too slowly to end the recession, he was nominated to a second term by President George Bush in August 1991, and shortly thereafter he was also confirmed to his first full fourteen-year term on the Federal Reserve Board. In 1996 his third four-year term was confirmed. In 2004 he took office for a fifth term. Greenspan also served as chairman of the Conference of Business Economists; president and fellow of the National Association of Business Economists; and director of the National Economists Club. He received the Thomas Jefferson Award for the greatest public service performed by an elected or appointed official, presented by the American Institute for Public Service (1976); was elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association (1989); was decorated Legion of Honor (Commander) France (2000); was made honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire (2002); and was the first recipient of the Gerald R. Ford Medal for Distinguished Public Service (2003). Among Greenspan's publications are Income Inequality: Issues and Policy Options (1998), Changing Capital Markets: Implications for Monetary Policy (2001), and Achieving Price Stability (2001). (Rohan Saxena and Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.) -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Woodward, Maestro: Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom (2000); J. Martin, Greenspan: The Man behind Money (2000); D. Jones, The Politics of Money: The Fed under Alan Greenspan (1991).