25 Alan Greenspan Quotes by a Famed Economist

By Stephanie Kirby

Writer, Entrepreneur and Inspirational quote curator

Published May 26, 2023

Learn more about the famous American economist with these Alan Greenspan quotes.

Alan Greenspan served as the Federal Reserve’s chairman under four Presidents.

Alan Greenspan was born in New York City, New York, in 1926; he is currently 97 years old.

Greenspan graduated from New York University with a B.A. degree in economics.

He then earned a Master’s Degree and later a Ph.D. in economics from the same institution.

Greenspan was the chairman and president of the economics consulting firm Townsend-Greenspan & Co from 1955 to 1987.

At that point, he took the position of Chairman of the Federal Reserve, which he would hold for four Presidents from 1987 through 2006.

Look at these Alan Greenspan Quotes to learn more about the economist.

Alan Greenspan Quotes About the Economy

Check out these Alan Greenspan quotes about economics.

1. “Whatever you tax, you get less of.” — Alan Greenspan

2. “Anything that we can do to raise personal savings is very much in the interest of this country.” — Alan Greenspan

3. “The problem is you cannot have free global trade with highly restrictive, regulated domestic markets.” — Alan Greenspan

4. “What a sound money system does is to stabilize all the elements in it, and reduces the uncertainty that people confront.” — Alan Greenspan

5. “You have to really stretch your imagination to infer what the intrinsic value of Bitcoin is. I haven’t been able to do it.” — Alan Greenspan

6. “The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default.” — Alan Greenspan

7. “In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.” — Alan Greenspan

8. “Bitcoin is really a fascinating example of how human beings create value and is not always rational… it is not a rational currency in that case.” — Alan Greenspan

9. “I don’t know where the stock market is going, but I will say this, that if it continues higher, this will do more to stimulate the economy than anything we’ve been talking about today or anything anybody else was talking about.” — Alan Greenspan

10. “I do not understand where the backing of Bitcoin is coming from. There is no fundamental issue of capabilities of repaying it in anything which is universally acceptable, which is either intrinsic value of the currency or the credit or trust of the individual who is issuing the money, whether it’s a government or an individual.” — Alan Greenspan

Wise Alan Greenspan Quotes

Here are some of the wisest Alan Greenspan quotes!

11. “Productivity is notoriously difficult to predict.” — Alan Greenspan

12. “Revolutions are something you see only in retrospect.” — Alan Greenspan

13. “The process of innovation is, of course, never-ending.” — Alan Greenspan

14. “History has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low-risk premiums.” — Alan Greenspan

15. “But material success is possible in this world and far more satisfying when it comes without exploiting others.” — Alan Greenspan

16. “To succeed, you will soon learn, as I did, the importance of a solid foundation in the basics of education – literacy, both verbal and numerical, and communication skills.” — Alan Greenspan

17. “I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well.” — Alan Greenspan

The Best Alan Greenspan Quotes

Enjoy some of the best Alan Greenspan quotes.

18. “No matter how often we fail, we can never stop trying.” — Alan Greenspan

19. “Finance is wholly different from the rest of the economy.” — Alan Greenspan

20. “The purpose of a politician is to be a leader. A politician has to lead.” — Alan Greenspan

21. “I’m a free-market economist from years and years back, and I’ve never veered from that.” — Alan Greenspan

22. “I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you’ve probably misunderstood what I’ve said.” — Alan Greenspan

23. “I get so engaged when I have a problem you cannot solve that I just cannot break away from what I am doing – I keep thinking and thinking and cannot stop.” — Alan Greenspan

24. “When you go back and look at American history, it’s not terribly different from Canadian history. If you weren’t self-reliant on the prairie, you wouldn’t survive.” — Alan Greenspan

25. “The very nature of finance is that it cannot be profitable unless it is significantly leveraged… and as long as there is debt, there can be failure and contagion.” — Alan Greenspan