The “Greenspan put” is 30 years old – it’s time it was retired

Central banks should stay out of the stockmarkets and stick to controlling inflation, says Matthew Lynn. Let the market do whatever it wants.

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Alan Greenspan: he still has your back

For anyone around at the time, 1987 seemed to be a year much like any other. Margaret Thatcher won her third election victory. The Rugby World Cup started. The first outing of The Simpsons was shown on TV. But for the financial markets, it was a major turning point. 1987 was the year that saw the creation of the "Greenspan put" shorthand for a policy among central bankers, that if the stockmarket collapsed, they would automatically ride to its rescue.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.