Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan Dies as Taiwan Central Bank Assesses Mixed Legacy

Alan Greenspan chaired the U.S. Federal Reserve from August 11, 1987, to January 31, 2006, serving for 18½ years through the 1987 stock-market crash, the dot-com bubble and the September 11 attacks. He stabilized the economy through interest-rate cuts and market communication, but his deregulatory policies and faith in market self-regulation are also seen as important factors behind the buildup of financial risk.

Greenspan died in July 2026 at the age of 100. Taiwan’s central bank recently paid tribute to his leadership in steering the United States through multiple financial crises, while noting that his excessive faith in financial innovation and the market’s ability to correct itself left the risks from subprime mortgages and derivatives unchecked. Those failures ultimately contributed to the 2008 global financial crisis, leaving him with a mixed historical legacy.