The Unassuming Economist

From a paper by İrfan Çerçil, and Gorkem Aksaray:

“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 policies have influenced inequality. Using panel data from 49 countries between 1999 and 2019, we apply Jordà’s (2005) local projections (LP) method to estimate the average treatment effect (ATE) of APPs on income and wealth inequality. To deal with 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 are more pronounced and persistent. Our research contributes to the ongoing debate about the distributional consequences of unconventional monetary policy and offers practical insights for policymakers.”