Alan Greenspan
Alan Greenspan
Alan Greenspanis an American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. He currently works as a private adviser and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC. First appointed Federal Reserve chairman by President Ronald Reagan in August 1987, he was reappointed at successive four-year intervals until retiring on January 31, 2006, after the second-longest tenure in the position...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEconomist
Date of Birth6 March 1926
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
There are sound reasons for concluding that the long-run picture remains bright ... but I would emphasize that we continue to face significant risks in the near term,
The rates of return on investment in the same new technologies are correspondingly less in Europe and Japan because businesses there face higher costs of displacing workers than we do, ... Moreover, because our costs of dismissing workers are lower, the potential costs of hiring and the risks associated with expanding employment are less.
Greenspan will note the economy's robust growth pace in a low inflation environment, ... the downside risks of the international weakness . . . most recently Brazil.
With regard to margin requirements, studies suggest that changes in such requirements have no appreciable and predictable effect on stock prices, ... Nonetheless, the Federal Reserve recognizes that considerable risks can be involved in the purchase of equity on margin, especially in volatile markets, and believes lenders and borrowers need to assess carefully the risks they are assuming through the use of margin.
Policymakers will need to be on the alert for oil-driven, indeed energy-driven, risks to our expansion, ... firm.
Concentration and other risks in holding dollar balances seem to have become a consideration at least for some investors,
Despite some of the risks that I have highlighted, the U.S. economy seems to be on a reasonably firm footing, and underlying inflation remains contained,
The likelihood is that we shall be seeing some lower prices on imported goods as a result of the difficulties in Asia, ... But they will not permanently suppress the risks inherent in the tightened labor markets.
It is possible to get markets which are too tight, which create inflationary imbalances and ultimately undercut the recovery,
I thought that the initiative that the Senate produced was very important and very effective,
It has been an extraordinary privilege to be able to serve my country at the Federal Reserve, and I would be honored if the Senate saw fit to enable me to continue this association for another four years,
It is becoming increasingly difficult to deny that something profoundly different than the postwar business cycle has emerged in recent years,
Large deficits will result in rising interest rates and an ever-growing ratio of debt service to GDP (gross domestic product),
Our judgment is that the level of consumption growth...will slow down, and the dramatic expansion in capital investment will slow down, ... Something will eventually change the pattern, but there are a number of different ways that can happen.