Alan Greenspan, the influential

economist and former chairman of the

Federal Reserve, has died. Greenspan

presided over the US Central Bank for 18

years under four different presidents,

from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush.

During his time at the Fed, the US

economy experienced one of the strongest

peacetime economic expansions in its

history. He was also faulted, though

later, for decisions that critics said

created conditions for the global

financial crisis. In a statement from

the Federal Reserve, the Central Bank

notes Greenspan's contributions to

monetary policy and economic thought,

which left a lasting mark on the

institution. Under his leadership, the

Fed notes, the Central Bank achieved a

sustained era of price stability that

supported economic growth and helped

anchor the public's confidence in the

institution. The Fed chairman became an

icon of global finance through televised

speeches and congressional testimony

that often moved markets. In one of his

most famous speeches, Greenspan posed a

rhetorical question, "How do we know

when irrational exuberance has unduly

escalated asset values?" Investors, of

course, fixated on that phrase,

"irrational exuberance," and sent stocks

briefly lower before they continued

their march higher. That phrase was of

greater importance just a few years

later when the tech bubble burst. Alan

Greenspan died on Monday at his home in

Washington, according to a statement by

his wife, Andrea Mitchell. The cause,

complications of Parkinson's disease.

Alan Greenspan was 100 years old.