Aggregate and Distributive Effects of Unconventional Monetary Policies

9-10 November, 2017
Monetary, Workshops | Tags: Inequality, Inflation, Interest Rates, QE

Co-organized with the Swiss National Bank and the Study Center Gerzensee
Gerzensee, Switzerland
Call for Papers (PDF)
Proceedings (PDF)

  • With the onset of the financial crisis, an increasing number of central banks have resorted to unconventional measures and pushed monetary policy into uncharted territories. Many relied on asset purchases as key instruments and, as a result, expanded and changed the composition of their balance sheets. Some started offering targeted longer-term refinancing operations and introduced negative interest rates. Several are offering forward guidance on their likely future actions. And many face questions about even more unusual types of interventions. Current public debates on helicopter money are a case in point.

    The growing role of unconventional tools does not only put their aggregate effects into the spotlight. It also triggers questions concerning the distributional consequences, and how they in turn affect monetary policy transmission channels and economic outcomes.

    Against this background, the Council on Economic Policies (CEP), the Swiss National Bank and the Study Center Gerzensee organize a workshop on “Aggregate and Distributive Effects of Unconventional Monetary Policies” on November 9-10, 2017 at the Study Center Gerzensee, Switzerland.

    The event brings together researchers from academia, central banks, and other non-academic research institutions.

    Topics of interest
    We are particularly interested in the following topics, but will also consider papers that deal with related issues that are not specifically mentioned below.

    – What is the empirical evidence on aggregate and distributive effects of unconventional monetary policy (e.g., negative interest rates, asset purchases, targeted longer-term refinancing operations)? Through which channels are these effects transmitted? How persistent are they?
    – What are the aggregate and distributive effects of unconventional monetary policy across countries? Do they call for more policy coordination?
    – Are the distributive effects of unconventional monetary policy larger than those of conventional policy?
    – What are the expected aggregate and distributive effects of other types of unconventional policy (e.g., helicopter money)?

  • Thursday, November 9, 2017
    9.45 – 10.00Welcome and Opening Remarks
    Dirk Niepelt, Study Center Gerzensee and University of Bern
    Pierre Monnin, Council on Economic Policies
    Session 1: Open Market Operations
    (Chair: Dirk Niepelt)
    10.00 – 11.00Welfare-Enhancing Distributional Effects of Central Bank Asset Purchases
    Andreas Schabert, University of Cologne (Paper) (Slides)
    Discussant: Annukka Ristiniemi, Sveriges Riksbank (Slides)
    11.00 – 12.00Non-Neutrality of Open Market Operations
    Pierpaolo Benigno, LUISS Guido Carli
    Salvatore Nistico, Sapienza University of Rome (Paper) (Slides)
    Discussant: Cédric Tille, Graduate Institute (Slides)
    12.00 – 13.30Lunch
    Session 2: Expectations
    (Chair: Sylvia Kaufmann)
    13.30 – 14.30Forward Guidance without Common Knowledge
    George-Marios Angeletos, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Paper) (Slides)
    Chen Lian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Discussant: Paul Pichler, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Slides)
    14.30 – 15.30The Risk Channel of Unconventional Monetary Policy
    Dejanir Silva, University of Illinois (Paper) (Slides)
    Discussant: Christoph Meinerding, Deutsche Bundesbank (Slides)
    15.30 – 16.00Coffee break
    Session 3: Liquidity
    (Chair: Pierre Monnin)
    16.00 – 17.00Optimal Monetary Policy and Liquidity with Heterogeneous Households
    Florin Bilbiie, Paris School of Economics (Paper)
    Xavier Ragot, Sciences Po
    Discussant: Tobias Cwik, Swiss National Bank (Slides)
    17.00 – 18.00Inside Money, Investment, and Unconventional Monetary Policy
    Lukas Altermatt, University of Basel (Paper) (Slides)
    Discussant: Federico Signoretti, Banca d’Italia (Slides)
    Friday, November 10, 2017
    Session 4: Allocation
    (Chair: Dirk Niepelt)
    8.30 – 9.30The Redistributive Effects of Monetary Policy
    Daniel Andrei, UCLA (Paper) (Slides)
    Bernard Herskovic, UCLA
    Olivier Ledoit, University of Zurich
    Discussant: Lorenzo Burlon, Banca d’Italia (Slides)
    9.30 – 10.30Misallocation Costs of Digging Deeper into the Central Bank Toolkit
    Robert Kurtzman, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
    David Zeke, University of Southern California (Paper) (Slides)
    Discussant: Oreste Tristani, European Central Bank (Slides)
    10.30 – 11.00Coffee break
    Session 5: Inequality
    (Chair: Pierre Monnin)
    11.00 – 12.00Did Quantitative Easing Increase Income Inequality
    Juan Antonio Montecino, Columbia University (Paper) (Slides)
    Gerald Epstein, UMass Amherst
    Discussant: Maarten Dossche, European Central Bank (Slides)
    12.00 – 13.00Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks on Inequality in Japan
    Masayuki Inui, Bank of Japan
    Nao Sudo, Bank of Japan
    Tomoaki Yamada, Meiji University (Paper) (Slides)
    Discussant: Jean-Stéphane Mésonnier, Banque de France (Slides)

  • – Adrien Auclert, Stanford University
    – Sylvia Kaufmann, Study Center Gerzensee
    – Carlos Lenz, Swiss National Bank
    – Pierre Monnin, Council on Economic Policies
    – Dirk Niepelt, Study Center Gerzensee
    – Marcel Savioz, Swiss National Bank