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Numbers Driven

Alan Greenspan was born in Manhattan. His mother raised him after his parents divorced, and he spent most of his childhood with her large family. He loved to memorize statistics about baseball, trains and telegraph codes as a boy. When the Great Depression hit during that time period, he would go out on the beach and look for coins that people had lost while swimming or sunbathing. He continued this habit throughout his life by looking down at the ground whenever he walked around because he knew there were things like coins lying around everywhere.

Greenspan was a mediocre student, but he excelled in mathematics. He developed a love for music at an early age and practiced the clarinet and tenor saxophone diligently. The armed forces were going to enlist him, but he got sick before it happened. He made money by touring with big bands and jazz groups around America. Later on, Greenspan attended Juilliard where he studied piano and composition while also playing the saxophone alongside Stan Getz.

Greenspan read business books in his spare time and prepared his fellow musician’s taxes. He found that he was good at numbers, so he enrolled at New York University to pursue degrees in finance and economics. After college, Greenspan worked with econometrics companies that used economic models for forecasting purposes. His skills were highly sought after because major corporations were beginning to use such models.

An Intellectual Education

Greenspan worked on research projects for manufacturers and government agencies. He collaborated with William Townsend to form an economic research company called Townsend-Greenspan in 1953.

Greenspan ended his first marriage and joined a group of intellectuals led by Ayn Rand. She taught him about free-market capitalism, which he embraced. He also attended her swearing-in ceremony when she became an economic adviser to President Gerald Ford. Greenspan remained close friends with Rand until her death in 1982.

“Economics Meets Politics”

In 1967, Greenspan volunteered to help Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign. He was impressed by Nixon and thought that he would be a good president. But when he heard him swear profusely during his rantings, Greenspan decided not to join the administration. However, in 1974, he agreed to serve on government committees and finally accepted a position as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford.

Both Nixon and Ford were Republicans, but Greenspan disagreed with them about wage and price controls. He used his economic modeling skills to help improve the national metrics that measured output, business inventories, and company orders. With better information, he could predict outcomes more accurately for Ford’s administration.

Out of Office and Then Back Again

When Jimmy Carter became the president, Greenspan returned to New York and his firm. His senior staff had been managing it well before he left, so he didn’t have to worry about anything when he came back. He joined corporate boards and continued dating Barbara Walters, who introduced him to media and celebrity life.

When President Ronald Reagan took office, he asked Greenspan to lead an effort to strengthen Social Security. In 1987, Greenspan agreed to succeed Paul Volcker as Fed Chairman. His first big test came 69 days later on Black Monday when the market fell 508 points in one day, a record drop. He and his team scrambled to provide liquidity and calm nervous investors and banks.

The Federal Reserve continued to control the economy by managing interest rates. It could operate without political pressure, but it often felt heat from politicians. During George H.W. Bush’s administration, he increased interest rates because of growing deficits and mounting debt, but Bush didn’t want to raise revenue or cut spending. He blamed Greenspan for his loss to Bill Clinton after promising not to raise taxes during his campaign.