Judging A Giant: Greenspan's Legacy -- Reporter's Notebook

It's been a year and a half since Alan Greenspan stepped down as Fed Chairman. During that time he's weighed in now and then on a number of weighty subjects, drawing some criticism for an apparent reluctance to give up the spotlight.

More recently, however, Greenspan's name has come up in a more favorable light. Following the market's August meltdown, investors have been longing for what some remember as a Greenspan tendency to make market-friendly policy moves in during volatile times. For that reason, his successor -- Ben Bernanke -- drew some criticism for failing to add liquidity to the system to ease concerns about the housing markets sooner than he did.

Given the twenty-year anniversary of Greenspan's ascension to the Fed post, the current wave of nostalgia may be more than coincidental. Unlike Bernanke, Greenspan faced a major market crisis early in his tenure and his role in the handling of the stock market crash in October 1987 earned him the respect -- and thanks -- of investors. Now, there's growing speculation the Fed will actually lower interest rates to stabilize the markets.

As part of our look at the Greenspan era, CNBC Managing Editor Tyler Mathisen and Senior Economics Correspondent Steve Liesman discussed the man and the legacy in this CNBC.com "Reporter's Notebook".

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