Assessing the Macroeconomic Effects of Quantitative Easing: Empirical Evidence from the Federal Reserve’s Experience

Abstract

This article aims at assessing the effects of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (QE) programmes on both economic activity and prices in the United States. Using a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model on monthly data from January 2007 to March 2017, it is assumed that a substantial fraction of the liquidity injected under the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programmes was used to artificially inflate stock prices. Furthermore, QE is assumed to be a competitive devaluation programme. The findings reveal that QE helps support economic activity, while its effect on inflation is rather small and insignificant. Besides, it is also found that QE boosts stock prices but does not have a significant effect on the US dollar.