Does the Way of Financing Quantitative Easing Programmes Matter?

This paper applies a DSGE model to find whether the way of financing QE2 matters for the reaction of the economy. The model includes a segmented bond market structure, thus the large-scale asset purchases may successfully influence the economy. It is shown that the effects on macroeconomic variables are very similar regardless of whether the government finances the purchases by lump-sum taxes or by short-term debt which signifies that the quantitative deviation from Ricardian equivalence introduced by bond market segmentation is insignificant. The redistribution effects caused by financing are noticeable.