Les banques centrales et la justice sociale

Abstract

This article puts forward two arguments calling for central banks to pay more attention to the distributive consequences of their policies. Appealing to the doctrine of double effect, we show that it is hard for central bankers do deny responsibility for the distributive consequences of their unconventional monetary policy. Furthermore, given that the hands of fiscal policy are largely tied today, the sensitivity of central banks to distributive issues could be decisive in the reduction of economic inequalities. The article then assesses central bankers’ theoretical and empirical arguments against the idea that distributive issues should figure in their decision making. We conclude that their objections do not undermine the plausibility of this idea.

This content has been updated on September 4th, 2020 at 12 h 37 min.