I came across a review of Robert Auerbach’s book, Deception and Abuse at the Fed: Henry B. Gonzalez Battles Alan Greenspan’s Bank.

It goes into my must read pile.

Auerbach is an outspoken critic of both the Fed and of Greenspan, and was an aide to one of Greenspan’s fiercest critics, Henry Gonzalez, former head of the House Banking Committee.

Basically, it appears that Greenspan got his PhD after stepping down from the Council of Economic Advisers. It happened in a very few months, and it was never published:

Exactly how Greenspan wrapped up his NYU studies in such a short period is unclear, but it appears that his thesis wasn’t especially time-consuming. Auerbach cites an earlier biography that says that Greenspan submitted — instead of a normal Ph.D. dissertation — some papers totaling 176 pages that he entitled Papers on Economic Theory and Policy. Among them was at least one he’d written earlier.

To say that this is irregular is an understatement. Dissertations are supposed to be public and available to people in the field, on the theory that it advances the area of study, even if that study is the “dismal science”.

The implication is not that he has lied on his resume, but rather that because of his connections, he was able to repackage a bunch of slop, and get his PhD anyway.

Sounds like Greenspan’s whole career.