Graduate Program

Economics

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

Spring 2022

Thesis Director

A. Désiré Adom

Thesis Committee Member

Ali R. Moshtagh

Thesis Committee Member

James R. Bruehler

Abstract

This paper tries to evaluate the effect that unconventional monetary policy has had on income inequality for the set of Eurozone countries, the United States and Japan using an unbalanced panel data model over the period from 1980 to 2021, first jointly and then individually, using different regressions for each case. Based on the regression model analyzed, the study attempts to analyze the relationship between money supply and income inequality as measured by the Gini index using fixed effects and random effects for our panel data model. The study reveals the importance of the money supply variable in reducing inequality when all countries are analyzed as a whole. For Eurozone countries, the common monetary policy created from 1999 onwards led to an increase in inequality, however the implementation of the unconventional monetary policy used from 2015 onwards had a beneficial effect on inequality reduction. The same result is found for the European Monetary Union countries. However, for the United States and Japan it is significantly concluded that the conventional monetary policies carried out since 1980 and, subsequently, the unconventional monetary policies have not only failed to reduce inequality, but have contributed to increase it for the aforementioned countries.

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