IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcr/ensayo/v1y2022i79p148-158.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Monetary Policy and Inequality

Author

Listed:
  • Claudio Borio

    (Bank of International Settlements)

Abstract

The nexus between monetary policy and inequality has attracted attention since the Great Financial Crisis. By keeping interest rates unusually low for unusually long to engineer a recovery and raise inflation, central banks have contributed to the perception that they have been raising inequality. But understanding the nexus requires a more holistic analysis. Long-term trends in inequality are not a monetary phenomenon: they reflect structural forces that are beyond the reach of monetary policy. Nevertheless, it can do a lot to foster a more equitable distribution over business cycles: its mandate requires it to tackle the major sources of inequality over business fluctuations: price, macroeconomic and, hence, financial instability. Changes in the nature of the business cycle have complicated this task, calling for greater support from other policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudio Borio, 2022. "Monetary Policy and Inequality," Ensayos Económicos, Central Bank of Argentina, Economic Research Department, vol. 1(79), pages 148-158, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcr:ensayo:v:1:y:2022:i:79:p:148-158
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bcra.gov.ar/Institucional/DescargaPDF/DownloadPDF.aspx?Id=1043
    File Function: English version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    business cycle; financial stability; inequality; inflation; monetary policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcr:ensayo:v:1:y:2022:i:79:p:148-158. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Federico Grillo (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bcraaar.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.