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Monetary Policy and Inequality: How Does One Affect the Other?

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  • Eunseong Ma

    (Yonsei University)

Abstract

This paper studies a labor-supply-side channel affecting the relationship between monetary policy and income inequality. To this end, I build a heterogeneous-agent New Keynesian economy with indivisible labor in which both macro and micro labor supply elasticities are endogenously generated. First, I find that monetary policy shocks have distributional consequences due to a substantial heterogeneity in labor supply elasticity across households. Second, a more equal economy is associated with more effective monetary policy in terms of output. I document supporting empirical evidence for the key mechanism of the model using micro-level data and state-level data in the U.S.

Suggested Citation

  • Eunseong Ma, 2022. "Monetary Policy and Inequality: How Does One Affect the Other?," Working papers 2022rwp-203, Yonsei University, Yonsei Economics Research Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:yon:wpaper:2022rwp-203
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    Cited by:

    1. Fierro, Luca Eduardo & Giri, Federico & Russo, Alberto, 2023. "Inequality-constrained monetary policy in a financialized economy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 366-385.
    2. Cho, Daeha & Ma, Eunseong, 2023. "The heterogeneous welfare effects of business cycles," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    3. Jérôme Creel & Mehdi El Herradi, 2024. "Income inequality and monetary policy in the euro area," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 332-355, January.
    4. Evgenidis, Anastasios & Fasianos, Apostolos, 2023. "Modelling monetary policy’s impact on labour markets under Covid-19," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    5. Capazario, Michele, 2022. "Developing an Income-Distribution- Sensitive Taylor Rule: An Application to South Africa," MPRA Paper 112740, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Emira Arefa Aji & Raditya Sukmana, 2023. "Dual Mone Al Monetary Policy And Income Inequ Y Policy And Income Inequality In Indonesia," Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking, Bank Indonesia, vol. 26(3), pages 539-560, September.
    7. Domonkos, Tomas & Fisera, Boris & Siranova, Maria, 2023. "Income inequality as long-term conditioning factor of monetary transmission to bank rates," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    8. Blanchflower, David G. & Bryson, Alex, 2023. "Were COVID and the Great Recession Well-Being Reducing?," IZA Discussion Papers 16355, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Mäki-Fränti, Petri & Silvo, Aino & Gulan, Adam & Kilponen, Juha, 2022. "Monetary policy and inequality: The Finnish case," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 3/2022, Bank of Finland.
    10. Makram El-Shagi & Steven Yamarik, 2024. "The Effect of Monetary Policy Shocks on Income Inequality across US states," CFDS Discussion Paper Series 2024/4, Center for Financial Development and Stability at Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, China.
    11. Masek, Frantisek & Zemlicka, Jan, 2024. "Average inflation targeting: how far to look into the past and the future?," Working Paper Series 2955, European Central Bank.
    12. Hayo, Bernd, 2023. "Does the ECB's monetary policy affect personal finances and economic inequality? A household perspective from Germany," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Gerke, Rafael & Giesen, Sebastian & Lozej, Matija & Röttger, Joost, 2024. "On household labour supply in sticky-wage HANK models," Discussion Papers 01/2024, Deutsche Bundesbank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monetary policy; Inequality; Labor supply elasticity; Indivisible labor.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D52 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Incomplete Markets
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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