This article is a high effort examination into whether quantitative easing in the U.S. has contributed to the current division of income between different socioeconomic classes. The author finds that larger macro forces including fiscal policies (healthcare, shifting of taxation to payroll taxes, militarization, deindustrialization) are larger culprits but that QE may also contribute as an accelerant by reducing the wealth-destroying effects of the normal business cycle.
I appreciate the author’s perspective as an engineer. The article provides counter examples (such as other economies that have used QE to a greater degree) and includes a historical narrative that helped me to contextualize the extent and reasons for wealth concentration in the US.
Any economists or other subject matter expert’s have a different take?
Disclosure: I subscribe to Lynn’s premium report.
