"Despite the worrisome pockets of strife and destruction, commerce and wealth building continue apace," Greenspan said in remarks prepared for delivery in Philadelphia, where the 78-year-old Fed chief was receiving an award.

"On average, world standards of living are rising, in large part owing to the increasing embrace of free markets, especially by populous and growing China and India," he said.

Greenspan did not touch on the outlook for the US economy or interest rates in his brief prepared remarks, which were made available in Washington.

In his remarks, Greenspan hailed markets as a good "antidote" for corrupt business behaviour evident in recent corporate scandals.

"We should not be surprised ... to see a re-emergence in recent years of the value placed by markets on trust and personal reputation in business practice," he said.

"After the revelations of corporate malfeasance, the market punished the stock prices of those corporations whose behaviours had cast doubt on the reliability of their reputations."