Dave Boaz offers links to a variety of Cato products on Alan Greenspan and the Greenspan legacy. What’s interesting is that there’s no consensus whatsoever. And yet, libertarianism is probably more prone to consensus-building than other ideologies. And of course people with progressive views disagree a lot about Greenspan’s monetary policies.
What’s telling here is that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is the second most-important person in the American government. As Brad DeLong details in an excellent American Prospect article the Fed has incredibly sweeping powers over the economy. And those powers give the chairman leverage — and thus, in effect, more power — over other areas of policy. And yet knowing which broad ideological family someone subscribes to tells you very little about his likely views on monetary policy. But it’s a hugely important subject. Which I think tells us something about the bounded relevance of these ideological considerations.