Demographic Effects on the Impact of Monetary Policy

John Leahy and Aditi Thapar

No 26324, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We study whether the effects of monetary policy are dependent on the demographic structure of the population. We exploit cross-sectional variation in the response of US states to an identified monetary policy shock. We find that there are three distinct age groups. In response to an increase in interest rates, the responses of private employment and personal income are weaker the greater the share of population under 35 years of age, are stronger the greater the share between 40 and 65 years of age, and are relatively unaffected by the share older than 65 years. We find that all age groups become more responsive to monetary policy shocks when the proportion of middle aged increases. We provide evidence consistent with middle aged entrepreneurs starting and expanding businesses in response to an expansionary monetary shock.

JEL-codes: E32 E52 J11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-cba, nep-dem, nep-lab, nep-mac and nep-mon
Note: EFG ME
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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