National Industrial Conference Board

This paper will present a short biography of Alan Greenspan and a discussion of his career as US Federal Reserve Chairman. The paper will look into the ways Greenspan improved the American economy. His policies were a subject of heated debate both inside the U.S. and internationally, therefore this paper will also provide a short account of various criticisms of Greenspan’s initiatives.Starting with a short biography of this exceptional public figure, Alan Greenspan was born in 1926, in New York City. From early teens he was fascinated by the world of music and therefore enrolled in the Juilliard School of dance, drama and music after his graduation from high school. However, he left the school to travel with Henry Jerome and His Orchestra and perform as a tenor, saxophone and clarinet player.It lasted for about a year, and in 1944 Greenspan enrolled in New York University’s school of commerce. He graduated from the school with a Master of Arts degree in 1950. At the sa me time, Alan started studying at Columbia University at the graduate level, yet he also began working at the National Industrial Conference Board, which caused him to discontinue his studies at Columbia University.The following year Greenspan met artist Joan Mitchell, and one more year after that they married, yet the marriage only lasted for ten months.In 1954, Greenspan established Townsend-Greenspan and company together with bond trader William Townsend. He was the Chairman and president of this economic consulting firm from 1954 to 1974. Starting in 1967, Greenspan stared engaging in politics. Under the Nixon administration, he was the director of domestic policy research. He refused an offer to work permanently in the administration, but went on advising Nixon informally, working simultaneously for the Townsend-Greenspan and company (InvestingValue, 2005).In the years 1974 to 1977, Greenspan was the Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, yet in 1977 he went back to the Townsend-Greenspan and company. The same year he received a Ph.D. degree from New York University.In the years 1981 to 1983, Greenspan held the position of the Chairman of the National Commission on Social Security Reform. He is often lauded for preventing the bankruptcy of the social security system while he was occupying that post (InvestingValue, 2005).In 1987, Greenspan was nominated the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and served as such for five consecutive terms.Townsend-Greenspan and company was closed, since Alan did not succeed in finding a buyer for it. Before Greenspan became the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, he served as a corporate director for Aluminum Company of America, Capital Cities/ABC, General Foods, J.P. Morgan & Co, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York, Mobil Corporation; and The Pittston Company, as well as a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Rand Corporation, Director of the Institute for International Economics, Member o f the Board of Overseers, Hoover Institution and Vice Chairman and Trustee for the Economic Club of New York. In 1997, Greenspan married Andrea Mitchell, an NBC’s journalist, after twelve years of dating her.After his retirement from the Federal Reserve Board in 2006, he provides consulting services through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC (InvestingValue, 2005).As concerns Greenspan’s economic philosophy, he is known as a committed supporter of Objectivism. He made friends with novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand through Joan Mitchell, and he was significantly influenced by her views. He contributed articles to Objectivist newsletters and authored a number of essays for Rand's 1966 book ‘Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal’ (InvestingValue, 2005).