Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve — the US central bank — has died at the age of 100.
The news has stunned the world of global finance: Greenspan was not, so to speak, a central banker like any other.
Alan Greenspan dies at 100: the line on US debt
Nicknamed “The Maestro” for his ability to steer the world’s largest economy — that of the United States — through one crisis after another, the New York-born banker sat at the helm of the Fed for nearly 20 years.
Among the most famous lines that captured his philosophy is one that could arguably be held responsible for the enormous debt that defines the US federal books today: «The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default.»
A champion of lower rates and the market backstop known as the “Greenspan put”
Although not officially the father of quantitative easing (QE) — the expansionary monetary-policy bazooka the Fed deployed under his successor Ben Bernanke during the 2008 financial crisis, also known as the subprime crisis — Greenspan, who occupied the highest seat at the US central bank from 1987 to 2006, was a firm advocate of a policy built on lower interest rates that indirectly propped up financial markets. So much so that Wall Street often spoke of the Greenspan put, a reference to measures aimed at stabilizing the US stock market.
Another of his historic remarks held that «fear is a far more dominant force in human behavior than euphoria» — a force, in his view, capable of destroying in a matter of days or weeks even the most intense euphoria, which by contrast tends to build slowly, over years.
Among the aphorisms etched into Fed history is also the one on the gold standard and inflation: «In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.»
Greenspan died from complications of Parkinson’s disease
Greenspan died today, Monday, June 22, 2026, at his home, from complications related to Parkinson’s disease, which the economist had long suffered from.
His death was announced by his wife, Andrea Mitchell, Chief Washington Correspondent and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for NBC News:
«He was a giant who helped shape the US economy for decades, under presidents of both parties. But he was always honest in acknowledging his own mistakes. To me he was my husband, the man who shaped my life from our very first date in 1984. He had an “irrational exuberance” (a phrase famously coined by Greenspan himself) for baseball, the Washington Commanders, tennis, golf and music, especially jazz. He will be remembered for his brilliance and his kindness. Being his life partner was the joy of my life.»
Appointed by Reagan, he steered the dot-com bubble and the aftermath of 9/11
Alan Greenspan was named chairman of the Federal Reserve in 1987 by US President Ronald Reagan, and he remained the central bank’s top official until 2006.
His tenure as a central banker was the second-longest in history, falling just four months short of that of former chairman William McChesney Martin, who presided over the Fed from 1951 to 1970.
The Fed responded to the news of Greenspan’s death with a statement expressing its «deep sadness» and recalling how his «contributions to monetary policy and economic thought left a lasting imprint on this institution and on the broader field of economics, as well as on the country.»
“Irrational exuberance” is just one of the many phrases the former Fed chairman coined. It was delivered in a speech dating back to December 5, 1996, and it sent a shock through global equities.
In Greenspan’s words: «How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions as they have in Japan over the past decade? ... We should not underestimate or become complacent about the complexity of the interactions between asset markets and the economy.»
The statement was read as evidence that Greenspan believed markets were overvalued. The selling was immediate. Markets then quickly recovered ground and kept climbing until the dot-com bubble burst in 2000 — on the very wave of what Greenspan had called irrational exuberance.
Beyond managing the dot-com crisis, Greenspan tried to revive the US economy after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, beginning to cut interest rates sharply.
The BBC recalls that it was Greenspan who pushed then-US President George W. Bush to remove Saddam Hussein, fearing the Iraqi dictator could wreak havoc on global energy markets.
In 2006, Greenspan resigned as chairman of the Federal Reserve after an unprecedented run spanning five presidential terms.
The following year, the now-infamous US housing-market crisis emerged — one the Federal Reserve had failed to foresee — which then culminated in the subprime mortgage crisis, toppling banks and unleashing the worst downturn in the US since the Great Depression.
Critics argued that it was precisely Greenspan’s low-interest-rate policy after 9/11 that fueled the fever in the US housing market, creating yet another bubble that ultimately brought the United States to its knees.
Editor’s note
This article was originally published in Italian on money.it by Laura Naka Antonelli on June 22, 2026 as «È morto a 100 anni Alan Greenspan, ex Presidente Fed». It has been translated and adapted for an international audience by the Money.it International desk.
