Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/229398 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2020/174
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
This paper examines the relationship between monetary policy and wealth inequality in South Africa. We employed a unique database of tax administrative data which allowed us to account for individual heterogeneity. These tax data span from 2011 to 2017 and include over 3 million individual taxpayers in South Africa after data cleaning. Results based on fixed- and random-effects panel model estimates show that monetary policy generally increases wealth Gini inequality while it decreases the wealth 90-10 percentile differential. Increasing asset prices and gross domestic product per capita generally increases wealth inequality, while inflation reduces wealth inequality. The effect of age on wealth distribution varies depending on whether a fixed- or random-effects panel model is considered. Based on the estimates and observed data, being male tends to increase wealth inequality.
Subjects: 
monetary policy
wealth inequality
distribution
tax data
heterogeneity
JEL: 
C23
D14
D31
E52
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-931-0
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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