He thinks academic economists are much more concerned with rules and models, while he's more concerned with making judgments. He has gone to some effort to establish that he is not following a rule.

There's more consensus . . . within the economics profession about how the world works than there was in the 1950s, '60s and '70s.

We get cheap goods in exchange for pieces of paper, which we can print at a great rate.

He's very knowledgeable about fiscal areas and has worldwide contacts.

They'll want to see him tested, ... Greenspan had, in a sense, the good fortune that there was a crisis (Black Monday, Oct. 19, when the Dow lost more than 20%) within the two months of the time he acceded to the chairmanship, and he handled the crisis very well. That established him in the market as a credible chairman.

He had to agree to it and accept it and believe in it.