Alan Greenspan Potential Quotations

Until market forces, assisted by a vigilant Federal Reserve, affect the necessary alignment of aggregate demand with the growth of potential aggregate supply, the full benefits of innovative productivity acceleration are at risk of being undermined by financial and economic instability,

Through most of last year's slowdown, in contrast to the usual pattern, the household sector was a major stabilizing force, ... As a consequence, although household spending should continue to trend up, the potential for significant acceleration in activity in this sector is more limited.

I find it utterly inconceivable, frankly, that we can have the type of potential fiscal outlook, which now confronts us over the next 15 to 20 years which, unless addressed, will not have a significant impact on long-term interest rates,

To date, interest-sensitive spending has remained robust and the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) will have to stay alert for signs that real interest rates have not yet risen enough to bring the growth of demand into line with that of potential supply, even should the acceleration in productivity continue,

It is much too soon to conclude that these concerns are behind us, ... We cannot yet be sure that the slower expansion of domestic final demand, at a pace more in line with potential supply, will persist.

The rates of return on investment in the same new technologies are correspondingly less in Europe and Japan because businesses there face higher costs of displacing workers than we do, ... Moreover, because our costs of dismissing workers are lower, the potential costs of hiring and the risks associated with expanding employment are less.

there are mechanisms in place that should help to slow the growth of spending to a pace more consistent with that of potential output growth.

Because it is a highly leveraged operation and one which requires very sophisticated hedging of interest rate risk, it's imparting a significant potential systemic risk to the American financial system,

As the value of assets and liabilities have risen relative to income, we have been confronted with the potential for our economies to exhibit larger and perhaps more abrupt responses to changes in factors affecting the balance sheets of households and businesses,

The shock of September 11, by markedly raising the degree of uncertainty about the future, has the potential to result, for a time, in pronounced disengagement from future commitments,

rare occasion, warranted because of the potential for serious disruptions to markets.

profound implications for the free world's trading system and the long-term growth potential of the American economy.

Demand may be moving closer into line with the rate of advance in the economy's potential, given our continued impressive productivity growth, ... Should this favorable outcome prevail, the immediate threat to our prosperity from growing imbalances in our economy would abate.

Although household spending should continue to trend up, the potential for significant acceleration in activity in this sector is likely to be more limited than in past cycles,

Indications that the extent of the application of existing technology is still far from complete, plus potential benefits derived from continuing synergies, support a distinct possibility that total productivity growth rates will remain high or even increase further,

Because there was little retrenchment during the cyclical downturn, the potential for a significant acceleration in activity in the household sector is likely to be more limited than in past business cycles,