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Population Aging and the Aggregate Effects of Monetary Policy

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  • Wong, Arlene

Abstract

This paper studies the effects of monetary policy on the expenditure of households of different ages using micro data from the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey. I find that contractionary monetary policy shocks reduce the expenditure of young households by significantly more than older households. Households react asymmetrically in part because young households tend to have lower savings and higher labor market risk. This implies that the age composition of the population affects the setting of optimal monetary policy in response to aggregate shocks. Counter-factual analysis suggests that the projected population aging in the U.S. will dampen the pass-through of monetary policy to the economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Wong, Arlene, 2014. "Population Aging and the Aggregate Effects of Monetary Policy," MPRA Paper 57096, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:57096
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Adrien Auclert, 2019. "Monetary Policy and the Redistribution Channel," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(6), pages 2333-2367, June.
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    3. James Cloyne & Clodomiro Ferreira & Paolo Surico, 2020. "Monetary Policy when Households have Debt: New Evidence on the Transmission Mechanism," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(1), pages 102-129.
    4. Fedotenkov, Igor, 2018. "Population ageing and inflation with endogenous money creation," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 392-403.
    5. Paolo Surico & Clodomiro Ferreira & James Cloyne, 2015. "Housing Debt and the Transmission of Monetary Policy," 2015 Meeting Papers 629, Society for Economic Dynamics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monetary policy; expenditure; age structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts

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