This paper analyses the effects of monetary policy on inequality over the business cycle via its impacts on returns on assets, the cost of debt servicing, and asset prices in selected advanced economies. Monetary policy easing has a priori ambiguous effects on income and net wealth inequality via financial channels. Effects depend in a complex way on the relative size and distributions of assets, liabilities, and income. In practice, these effects are estimated to be small. A house price increase generally reduces net wealth inequality, while the opposite is true for increases in stock and bond prices. As monetary policy has the potential to affect inequality, monetary authorities face communication challenges. The available research on interactions between monetary policy and inequality does not justify targeting inequality by central banks.

The role of digital platform workers, whether they are delivering fastfood or working remotely categorising photographs, has received much attention both in the media and among policymakers. However, there is a lack of comparable and consistent statistics, over time and across countries, on the number of platform workers, their characteristics and their types of jobs and tasks. This review article examines the attempts that have been made to measure the number of digital platform workers, including both traditional surveys and uses of big data, and it highlights the difficulties encountered and offers guidance on future attempts to estimate the number of digital platform workers.

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JT03390505Complete document available on OLIS in its original format This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. ECO/WKP(2016)5 UnclassifiedEnglish -Or. English ECO/WKP(2016)5 2 OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the author(s).Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works.Comments on Working Papers are welcomed, and may be sent to the Economics Department, OECD, 2 rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France, or by e-mail to eco.contact@oecd.org.All Economics Department Working Papers are available at www.oecd.org/eco/workingpapers. © OECD (2016)You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to rights@oecd.org ECO/WKP(2016)5 3 ABSTRACT/RÉSUMÉ Monetary Policy and InequalityThis paper analyses two-way interactions between monetary policy and inequality in selected advanced economies. In the context of a highly accommodative monetary stance over recent years, the analysis focuses on the effects of monetary policy on inequality over the business cycle via its impacts on returns on assets, the cost of debt servicing and asset prices. While monetary policy easing has a priori ambiguous effects on income and net wealth inequality, in practice these effects are estimated to be small. Cross-country differences in the size and distribution of income and net wealth explain contrasting effects. A house price increase generally reduces net wealth inequality, while the opposite is true for increases in equity and bond prices. Higher inequality can reduce the effectiveness of monetary policy stimulus in boosting private consumption, but such effects are estimated to be small. Cross-country differences in the size and composition of household financial assets rather than in their distribution are more relevant for differences in the effectiveness of monetary policy, especially via the wealth channel. JEL classification codes: D31, D63, E21, E3, E5.Key words: income inequality, net wealth inequality, monetary policy, consumption wealth effects. ******************** Politique monétaire et inégalitésLe présent article a pour objet d'analyser les interactions réciproques entre la politique monétaire et les inégalités dans certaines économies avancées. Dans le contexte d'une politique monétaire très accommodante au cours des dernières années, l'ana...