Unconventional monetary policy effects on output and inflation: A meta-analysis

The outburst of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 has brought to the surface increasing interest for unconventional monetary policies at the Zero Lower Bound (ZLB). In this paper, we employ techniques of meta-analysis in order to capture the impacts of such policies on the main macroeconomic indicators. We collect sixteen published studies and examine how output and inflation are affected by expansionary non-conventional Quantitative Easing (QE) shocks and the proportion of heterogeneity that can be attributed to different moderators. We focus on empirical studies that employ Vector Autoregression (VAR) specifications. Results indicate that FAVAR specifications increase output response in all horizons, whereas prices only in the short-run. Furthermore, studies about European countries as well as sign restrictions in impulse responses lower output responses, whereas recursive identification decreases prices responses.