Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Fed, dies at age 100

Alan Greenspan, the longtime Federal Reserve chairman known as "the Maestro" who became one of the most influential economic policymakers of his era and famously warned of "irrational exuberance," has died. He was 100. The influential economist died Monday from complications of Parkinson's Disease, said his wife of 29 years, Andrea Mitchell, the chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News . Greenspan was appointed Fed chairman in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and held the position — through busts and booms — until retiring in 2006. His tenure was the second longest, four months short of that of William McChesney Martin, who presided over the central bank from 1951 to 1970. It was his unusual frankness in one televised speech, on Dec. 5, 1996, that set off a bit of market madness. Discussing the challenges of setting monetary policy, he said: "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? ... We should not underestimate or become complacent about the complexity of the interactions of asset markets and the economy." The phrase "irrational exuberance" was interpreted as a signal that Greenspan thought the market was overvalued. The Tokyo stock market, which was open at the time, sank 3% on the comment, and other markets subsequently tumbled. …