Are Inflationary Shocks Regressive? A Feasible Set Approach*

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Del Canto, Felipe; Grigsby, John; Qian, Eric; Walsh, Conor
• 署名单位: Harvard University; Princeton University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Columbia University
• 刊物名称: QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-5533
• DOI: 10.1093/qje/qjaf028
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 2685-2747
• 关键词: monetary-policy; redistribution; RISK; US

摘要

We develop a framework to measure the welfare impact of macroeconomic shocks throughout the distribution. The first-order impact of a shock is summarized by the induced movements in agents' feasible sets: their budget constraint and borrowing constraints. We combine estimated impulse response functions with micro-data on household consumption bundles, asset holdings, and labor income for different U.S. households. We find that inflationary oil shocks are regressive, but monetary expansions are progressive, and there is substantial heterogeneity throughout the life cycle. In all cases, the dominant channel is the effect of the shock on the cost of accumulating assets, not movements in goods prices or labor income.