This paper explores whether unconventional monetary policy operations have redistributive effects on household wealth. Drawing on household balance sheet data from the Wealth and Asset Survey, we construct monthly time series indicators on the distribution of different asset types held by British households for the period that the monetary policy switched, as the policy rate reached the zero-lower bound. Using this series, we estimate the response of wealth inequalities on monetary policy, taking into account the effect of unconventional policies conducted by the Bank of England in response to the Global Financial Crisis. Our evidence reveals that unconventional monetary policy shocks have significant and lingering effects on wealth inequality: the shock raises wealth inequality across households, as measured by their Gini coefficients, percentile shares, and other standard inequality indicators. Additionally, we explore the effects of different transmission channels simultaneously. We find that the portfolio rebalancing channel and house price effects widen the wealth gap, outweighing the counterbalancing impact of the savings redistribution and inflation channels. The findings of our analysis help to raise awareness of central bankers about the redistributive effects of their monetary policy decisions.

中文翻译：

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英国的非常规货币政策和财富不平等

本文探讨非常规货币政策操作是否对家庭财富有再分配效应。利用财富和资产调查的家庭资产负债表数据，我们构建了货币政策转换期间英国家庭持有的不同资产类型分布的月度时间序列指标，因为政策利率达到零下限。使用这个系列，我们估计了财富不平等对货币政策的反应，同时考虑了英格兰银行为应对全球金融危机而采取的非常规政策的影响。我们的证据表明，非常规货币政策冲击对财富不平等具有显着且持续的影响：冲击加剧了家庭之间的财富不平等，以家庭基尼系数衡量，百分比份额和其他标准的不平等指标。此外，我们同时探索了不同传输渠道的影响。我们发现投资组合再平衡渠道和房价效应扩大了贫富差距，超过了储蓄再分配和通胀渠道的平衡影响。我们的分析结果有助于提高央行行长对其货币政策决定的再分配影响的认识。