Asymmetric Monetary Policy and Acceptance of the Economic Order

Since the turn of the millennium, voters in the industrialized countries are increasingly expressing their dissatisfaction. Based on the theoretical concepts of justice by Hayek (1976), Rawls (1972, 2001) and Brennan and Buchanan (2000 [1985]) we argue that the growing dissatisfaction is rooted in the asymmetric pattern in monetary policies since the 1980s for two reasons. First, the structurally declining interest rates and the unconventional monetary policy measures have granted privileges to specific social groups such as the rich, the financial sector and the elder people. Second, the increasingly expansionary monetary policies have negative growth effects, which reduce the scope for compensation of the ones excluded from the privileges. The result is a thread for the acceptance of the economic order and growing potential for political instability.