Alan Greenspan Wins 'Dynamite Award' For Economist Who Did Most To Fuel The Financial Crisis

This award won't be going on Alan Greenspan's mantle.

The once-lauded Federal Reserve chairman has been awarded the "Dynamite Prize In Economics" by his fellow economists, according to the blog Real-World Economics Review. The blog solicited votes for the economists most responsible for the financial crisis from its 11,000 subscribers -- most of which, the blog claims, are economists.

Finishing second was Milton Freidman, the staunch free market advocate (3,349 votes), followed by Lawrence Summers (3,023 votes), Obama's chief economic adviser and former president of Harvard.

From the blog:

This blog established the prize in response to attempts by economists to evade responsibility for the crisis by calling it an unpredictable, "Black Swan" event. In reality, the public perception that economic theories and policies helped cause the crisis is correct.

Check out the rest of the list at Real-World Economics. (Incidentally, they're also looking for submissions for their "Revere Award In Economics" for the economist who best saw the financial crisis coming. We put together our own list of some of the economic thinkers who predicted the crisis.)

Quick Poll

Which Economist Was Most Responsible For The Financial Crisis?

Alan Greenspan

Milton Freidman

Larry Summers

Eugene Fama

They all share the blame

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Comments

[Harrier]

03:52 PM on 02/25/2010

Greenspan worked for Exxon. He did not believe in any govt intervention. Many things he said were. He went from the .com to real estate mania then we saw all the credit risk moving away from those lending the money. Greenspan was the worst thing that hit this country since the depression. We went down for similar reasons.

[talos72]

02:10 AM on 02/25/2010

Freidman is really the architect of the whole trickle-down, "market as solution for all" nonsense. Greenspan does still deserve the honor as he spent his years implementing all the really bad ideas of the Freidman school. Still Greenspan has not really owned up to it. What amazes me is how most of the people in the list along with other so-called market geniuses really wallow in intellectual mediocrity while trying to desperately sell this snake oil called the "free market".

[racetoinfinity]

05:52 AM on 03/03/2010

Good comment.

[consumerist]

05:07 PM on 02/24/2010

AG was instrumental in getting the Glass-Steagall act repealed and also getting rid of Bjorn Brooks who was opposing the move. Having said that, AG is just a creation of the economic-success-at-any-cost culture we have created in USA. Even though AG is gone from his post, things haven't changed a bit. I rest my case.

[FilthyHarry]

01:18 PM on 02/24/2010

I don't know who is more responsible economically, but I do think that more than anyone else, Greenspan was in the best position to stop the impending financial crisis, and likewise because of that same position did the most damage.

[truthSerum888]

01:16 PM on 02/24/2010

Greenspan, like Dick Cheney, doesn't care about public opinion. His constituents got paid handsomely and so did he. All these b@stards care about is their own network and their own pocketbooks. You'll be judged, if not in this life then soon after...

[patsydecline]

04:16 PM on 02/24/2010

we can only hope...

[tuberider]

01:11 PM on 02/24/2010

Yeah, his wife's a real Soldier of Truth too...

[Michael Arnold]

11:42 AM on 02/24/2010

You mean Ayn Rand was wrong?

[Matt Hotz]

10:54 AM on 02/24/2010

I'd go so far as the say Greenspan should be brought to trial for crimes against humanity for what was created under his watch.

But, they are all to blame.

[Freenation]

10:49 AM on 02/24/2010

Lol, this is hilarious Summers is at third, I guess we can take some comments from Harvard where he lost more than billion dollars in wrong bets..

[XzibitX]

10:12 AM on 02/24/2010

How about we award good old GreenScam with a flaming necktie award? Anyone got some lighter fluid and a lit cigarette?

[Billicart]

09:14 AM on 02/24/2010

Sharing the idiot’s top spot with Greenspan has to be Michael Jensen, Godfather of “Skin-In-The-Game Compensation’. He marshalled in the era of : Golden Welcomes, Platinum Good-Byes, and absolutely no accountability in between. A farcical remuneration system based on “Incentives” that always turned out to have positive, VERY POSITIVE, outcomes for board members, no matter how dysfunctional their leadership proved to be.(NB Charlie Munger says, Where there are incentives, there are conflicts of interest) This put an end to any sort of “Market-Clearing” of executive ability and compensation. Attracting the “Wrong Type” actually. After 2 decades of the Jensen Doctrine, the US now boasts a Gini Co-efficient of a banana republic dictatorship and decimated debt driven consumption serfdom with very little wiggle room.

[XzibitX]

10:15 AM on 02/24/2010

An 0rgy of looting. I wonder how much money /sr@el gets when money disappears from the US by the billions and trillions.

[patsydecline]

04:18 PM on 02/24/2010

makes you wonder

[doneflyin]

12:15 AM on 02/25/2010

2.3 trillion disappeared from the Pentagon budget when Rabbi Zov Zokheim was comtroller. It was never accounted for because Rumsfeld made the announcement about the missing trillions on Sept. 10th, 2001. And we all know what happened the next day.
The missing trillions and Zov Zokheim were never investigated. Zokheim was quietly removed from his post and assigned to some other government position.

[vegasjack]

08:57 AM on 02/24/2010

what happened what caused this ?

1976 top 1 % share of wealth was 19.9 % bottom 99 % held 80.1 % of wealth

2007 top 1 % held 34.6 % bottom 99 % held 65.4 % why did the top 1 % get my 14.7 %

i want it back

[DavidWyld]

08:54 AM on 02/24/2010

From academia, when in doubt, always go with "all of the above"!

David

[TinRoofRusted]

08:14 AM on 02/24/2010

I'm sure his momma is proud.

[ibsteve2u]

04:10 AM on 02/24/2010

I don't think Greenspan deserves the award alone.

That Republican Administration wouldn't have turned to an artificial housing boom to cover up the weakness in our economy if it weren't already on its last legs due to that equally Republicans triumvirate of wealth transfer tools: "Flood-up/trickle-down" economics, deregulation, and inequitable free trade.

(Of course, there is the fact that Goldman Sachs did remarkably well playing in the paper of that housing boom which suggests an additional motive for that boom and the capital "created" by Fannie Mae et al out of thin air in 2002, but what would you expect in an environment where all high-level Federal financial policy was shaped by...Goldman Sachs alumni?)

Oh, and I should not overlook the Republicans' shielding of Big Oil's profits, and their calculated efforts to block any attempt to wean us from oil - another great big drain on our economy.

I.e., Greenspan's co-winner is Republican greed. They used his faith in Randy Annie's prescription for capitalistic bliss - greed is good - to exercise their greed...at America's expense.

Looked at the U.S. international currency reserve balance lately ( http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/201022312395410856.htm )? Bad for your sleep, if you know that China alone owns at least $800 billion in U.S. Treasury debt.

Yup...if you want to bring a great country to the abyss, hire the Republicans, and give them a fool like Greenspan for a scapegoat.