IMF Working Papers

Should Inequality Factor into Central Banks' Decisions?

By Niels-Jakob H Hansen, Alessandro Lin, Rui Mano

September 25, 2020

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Niels-Jakob H Hansen, Alessandro Lin, and Rui Mano. Should Inequality Factor into Central Banks' Decisions?, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2020) accessed November 8, 2024

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Summary

Inequality is increasingly a concern. Fiscal and structural policies are well-understood mitigators. However, less is known about the potential role of monetary policy. This paper investigates how inequality matters for monetary policy within a tractable Two-Agent New Keynesian model that captures important dimensions of inequality. We find some support for making inequality an explicit target for monetary policy, particularly if central banks follow standard Taylor rules.

Subject: Consumption, Income, Income inequality, Inflation, Output gap

Keywords: Consumption inequality, Inequality gap, Inflation gap, Labor income, Optimal monetary policy, WP

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    39

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 2020/196

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA2020196

  • ISBN:

    9781513557649

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941