Three Essays on Monetary policies: effects, accountability, and distribution

This doctoral thesis, composed of three essays, investigates the impact of monetary policy on the real economy and on distribution. The first essay captures non-linearities inherent in monetary policy effects using the Local Projection method. The study examines sign- and cycle- dependent asymmetric effects of US monetary policy on the components and sub-components of aggregate demand over more than 50 years in the period preceding COVID-19. The second essay aims to expand and combine different post-Keynesian frameworks by developing a theoretical Monetary Theory of Distribution Supermultiplier model. This model incorporates the interest rate as a policy variable that influences distribution via the conflict-inflation mechanism, assessing its implications for the model’s behavior and for policy purposes. Acknowledging the real impact of monetary policies, the third essay delves into the governance and accountability of Central Banks. The main focus is on the independence framework, which is critically analyzed through a political economy lens, from historical, theoretical, and empirical perspectives, employing modern textual analysis, particularly with regard to the issue of financial dependence. In general, the work aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the monetary phenomena, focusing on their relation with contemporary issues.