Does it make the rich richer and the poor poorer? Let’s look at wealth first. Here, the most important item for many households is real estate, the home they live in and any other property they may own. Real estate makes up about 80% of the total assets of households, almost irrespective of their level of prosperity.
So, to answer our question, we need to think about how monetary policy affects house prices. The answer is that quantitative easing raises house prices and, on average, this boosts the net wealth of all households, rich and poor alike. In fact, poorer households might even benefit more because they are more highly leveraged.