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Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan Quotes

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Famous Alan Greenspan Quotes

“It has been my experience that competency in mathematics, both in numerical manipulations and in understanding its conceptual foundations, enhances a person's ability to handle the more ambiguous and qualitative relationships that dominate our day-to-day financial decision-making”

PersonsHas BeensSuccessUnderstandingAbilityDecisionBusinessSelf ImprovementMathematicsFoundationFinancialHandleFinanceDecision MakingManipulationBusiness SuccessDay To DayAccountingAmbiguousCompetenciesQualitative
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“Given our inevitably incomplete knowledge about key structural aspects of our ever-changing economy and the sometimes asymmetric costs or benefits of particular outcomes, a central bank... need to consider not only the most likely future path for the economy but also the distribution of possible outcomes about that path. They then need to reach a judgment about the probabilities, costs, and benefits of the various possible outcomes under alternative choices for policy.”

NeedsSometimesChoicesGivenDecisionEconomyPathRiskPolicyParticularKeysCostBenefitsJudgmentAspectManagementVariousAlternativesOutcomesMakersProbabilityDistributionIncompleteRisk ManagementCentral BanksDecision MakersIncomplete Knowledge
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“I do not deny that many appear to have succeeded in a material way by cutting corners and by manipulating associates, both in their professional and in their personal lives. But material success is possible in this world and far more satisfying when it comes without exploiting others.”

WorldWayLifeSuccessBusinessCuttingThis WorldMaterialsSelf ImprovementCornersDenySatisfyingBusiness SuccessAssociatesPersonal LifeDishonestyCutting Corners
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“I have one other issue I'd like to throw on the table. I hesitate to do it, but let me tell you some of the issues that are involved here. If we are dealing with psychology, then the thermometers one uses to measure it have an effect. I was raising the question on the side with Governor Mullins of what would happen if the Treasury sold a little gold in this market. There's an interesting question here because if the gold price broke in that context, the thermometer would not be just a measuring tool. It would basically affect the underlying psychology.”

IfsLittlesUseHappensSidesInterestingIssuesPsychologyEffectsInvolvedToolsGoldLet MeTablesBrokeGovernorsMeasuringTreasuryThermometersGold Price
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“Capitalism is based on self-interest and self-esteem; it holds integrity and trustworthiness as cardinal virtues and makes them pay off in the marketplace, thus demanding that men survive by means of virtue, not vices. It is this superlatively moral system that the welfare statists propose to improve upon by means of preventative law, snooping bureaucrats, and the chronic goad of fear.”

MenMeanSelfLawInterestPayMoralVirtueSelf EsteemIntegrityCapitalismVicesEsteemWelfareSelf InterestProposeMarketplaceBureaucratsCardinalsTrustworthinessSnooping
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“Even though some down payments are borrowed, it would take a large, and historically most unusual, fall in home prices to wipe out a significant part of home equity. Many of those who purchased their residence more than a year ago have equity buffers in their homes adequate to withstand any price decline other than a very deep one.”

YearsHomeFallYears AgoSignificantUnusualDeclineEquityAdequatePaymentWipeBorrowedVery DeepResidenceHome Equity
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“The use of a growing array of derivatives and the related application of more-sophisticated approaches to measuring and managing risk are key factors underpinning the greater resilience of our largest financial institutions... Derivatives have permitted the unbundling of financial risks.”

UseGreaterGrowingRiskKeysApproachInstitutionsFinancialResilienceFactorsRelatedApplicationSophisticatedMeasuringDerivativesFinancial InstitutionsFinancial Risk
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“We ought to be opening up our borders to skilled labour from all parts of the world because [the state of the world is as follows: ] if we were to do that we would increase the supply of skilled workers that our schools have been unable to create and as a consequence of that we would lower the average wage of skills and reduce the degree of income inequality in this country.”

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“Clearly, sustained low inflation implies less uncertainty about the future, and lower risk premiums imply higher prices of stocks and other earning assets. We can see that in the inverse relationship exhibited by price/earnings ratios and the rate of inflation in the past. But how do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions as they have in Japan over the past decade?”

KnowsPastValuesRiskSubjectsHigherLowsRateDecadesUncertaintyUnexpectedJapanAssetsIrrationalEarningInflationOver The PastRatiosExuberanceContractionsInverse
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“I don't think it's possible for the Fed to end its easy-money policies in a trouble-free manner. Recent episodes in which Fed officials hinted at a shift toward higher interest rates have unleashed significant volatility in markets, so there is no reason to suspect that the actual process of boosting rates would be any different. I think that real pressure is going to occur not by the initiation by the Federal Reserve, but by the markets themselves.”

ThinkingDifferentRealEndsReasonWould BeEasyProcessInterestTroublePolicyHigherPressureRateSignificantOfficialsNo ReasonFedsSuspectsEpisodesReservesFederal ReserveInterest RateInitiationUnleashedVolatilityEasy Money
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“And whatever their publicized angst over Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction,' American and British authorities were also concerned about violence in an area that harbors a resource indispensable for the functioning of the word economy. I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”

KnowsWarEconomyViolenceAuthorityWeaponsMassResourcesAreasConcernedDestructionIraqBritishOilAcknowledgeIndispensableSaddamHusseinHarborsAngstWeapons Of Mass DestructionMass DestructionIraq WarInconvenientSaddened
Author:Alan Greenspan
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