Monetary policy and inequality: Distributional effects of asset purchase programs

IF 3.3 2区经济学 Q2 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Journal of International Money and Finance Pub Date : 2025-06-25 DOI:10.1016/j.jimonfin.2025.103384

İrfan Çerçil , Gorkem Aksaray

{"title":"Monetary policy and inequality: Distributional effects of asset purchase programs","authors":"İrfan Çerçil , Gorkem Aksaray","doi":"10.1016/j.jimonfin.2025.103384","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Income and wealth inequality have been steadily rising in developed countries since the 1970s. Unconventional monetary policy has recently come under increasing scrutiny for its role in exacerbating this trend. In response to the 2008 global financial crisis, central banks in many developed countries have started to engage in large-scale asset purchase programs (APPs), also known as quantitative easing (QE), to stimulate their economies. This paper investigates how these programs have influenced inequality. Using panel data from 49 countries between 1999 and 2019, we apply local projections (LP) method to estimate the average treatment effect (ATE) of APPs on income and wealth inequality. To address endogeneity, we use propensity scores and the augmented inverse probability weighting (AIPW) estimator. Our results reveal a discernible relationship between APPs and increased inequality. Specifically, we find that while the impact of APPs on income inequality fades over time, their effect on wealth inequality is more pronounced and persistent. Our research contributes to the ongoing debate about the distributional consequences of monetary policy, offering practical insights for policymakers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48331,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Money and Finance","volume":"157 ","pages":"Article 103384"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of International Money and Finance","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261560625001196","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Income and wealth inequality have been steadily rising in developed countries since the 1970s. Unconventional monetary policy has recently come under increasing scrutiny for its role in exacerbating this trend. In response to the 2008 global financial crisis, central banks in many developed countries have started to engage in large-scale asset purchase programs (APPs), also known as quantitative easing (QE), to stimulate their economies. This paper investigates how these programs have influenced inequality. Using panel data from 49 countries between 1999 and 2019, we apply local projections (LP) method to estimate the average treatment effect (ATE) of APPs on income and wealth inequality. To address endogeneity, we use propensity scores and the augmented inverse probability weighting (AIPW) estimator. Our results reveal a discernible relationship between APPs and increased inequality. Specifically, we find that while the impact of APPs on income inequality fades over time, their effect on wealth inequality is more pronounced and persistent. Our research contributes to the ongoing debate about the distributional consequences of monetary policy, offering practical insights for policymakers.

查看原文本刊更多论文

货币政策与不平等：资产购买计划的分配效应

自上世纪70年代以来，发达国家的收入和财富不平等一直在稳步上升。最近，非常规货币政策因在加剧这一趋势方面所起的作用而受到越来越多的审视。为应对2008年全球金融危机，许多发达国家的央行开始实施大规模资产购买计划（app），也被称为量化宽松（QE），以刺激经济。本文调查了这些计划是如何影响不平等的。利用1999年至2019年来自49个国家的面板数据，我们采用局部预测（LP）方法估算了app对收入和财富不平等的平均处理效果（ATE）。为了解决内生性问题，我们使用倾向得分和增广逆概率加权（AIPW）估计器。我们的研究结果揭示了app与不平等加剧之间的明显关系。具体来说，我们发现，虽然app对收入不平等的影响会随着时间的推移而减弱，但它们对财富不平等的影响却更加明显和持久。我们的研究为正在进行的关于货币政策分配后果的辩论做出了贡献，为政策制定者提供了实用的见解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of International Money and Finance BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

4.20

自引率

4.00%

发文量

141

期刊介绍： Since its launch in 1982, Journal of International Money and Finance has built up a solid reputation as a high quality scholarly journal devoted to theoretical and empirical research in the fields of international monetary economics, international finance, and the rapidly developing overlap area between the two. Researchers in these areas, and financial market professionals too, pay attention to the articles that the journal publishes. Authors published in the journal are in the forefront of scholarly research on exchange rate behaviour, foreign exchange options, international capital markets, international monetary and fiscal policy, international transmission and related questions.