Alan Greenspan: unique methodology, uncommon insight.(Federal Reserve Board)

As Alan Greenspan prepares to step down from a post he has held nearly two decades, he leaves behind a legacy that can be called eventful, at the very least. Many on Wall Street and in economic academia refer to Greenspan as the greatest central banker to ever exist, after he steered the economic ship through several rough patches, including "Black Monday," Russia's 1998 debacle (which threatened the existence of Long-Term Capital Management, an enormous private investment fund), and the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Greenspan's career began over 18 years ago, first as a consultant for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, then appointed Fed chairman by Ronald Reagan in 1987. In October, two months after his appointment, "Black Monday" cast a cloud over the global market. Greenspan was a key figure in keeping the market stabilized, and it eventually did, even surpassing its pre-crash peak just two years later.

But that is only part of Greenspan's well-known ingenuity. Colleagues find his grasp on Fed policy boundless, and his thought-process when it comes to the economic world unmatched. Greenspan is viewed as the brain-child behind the economic boom of the late 1990s, when more than three ...