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I want to thank Martina Metzger for her very helpful comments and insights on monetary policies of central banks, and Diane Elson for the many discussions on this topic. I also wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments. The usual caveat applies that in the end, I am responsible for the arguments presented in this paper., Unconventional monetary policy was implemented as a result of the financial crisis and resulted in rising asset prices in the stock markets. While the increase in asset prices is not exclusively triggered by unconventional monetary policy, central bankers accept that unconventional monetary policy has resulted in distributional effects on wealth, and that these are not negligible. What is missing are studies analyzing whether these non-standard monetary policies have different distributional effects on women and men. The intent of the paper is to interrogate whether unconventional monetary policy of central banks has a gender bias that operates in favor of men as gender and against women as gender. Relying on insights from feminist economics, the paper uses the results of the ECB Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) of 62,000 household across 15 euro-area countries. While the results are tentative, they show an asymmetric distributional gendered impact. Since the rich own more assets than the poor, and since monetary easing works in part by raising asset prices, these unconventional policies may unintentionally benefit the wealthier quintile (on average more male) at the expense of the poorer strata of society (on average more female)., La política monetaria no convencional fue implementada como resultado de la crisis financiera, resultando en precios crecientes de los activos en los mercados de valores. Mientras que este incremento en los precios de los activos no está causado exclusivamente por la política monetaria, los bancos centrales aceptan que la política monetaria no convencional ha causado efectos redistributivos sobre la riqueza, y que éstos no son despreciables. Sin embargo, son inexistentes los estudios que analicen si estas políticas monetarias no convencionales tienen diferentes efectos redistributivos entre mujeres y hombres. El objetivo de este artículo es cuestionar si la política monetaria no convencional tiene un sesgo de género que opera a favor del hombre como género y en contra de la mujer como género. Apoyándonos en las aportaciones de economistas feministas, el artículo emplea los resultados de la Encuesta del Eurosistema sobre la Situación Financiera y el Consumo de los Hogares (HFCS) realizada por el BCE sobre una muestra de 62.000 hogares de la UE-15. Si bien los resultados son tentativos, muestran un impacto redistributivo asimétrico en cuanto al género. Como las clases altas poseen más activos que las bajas y, como la política monetaria funciona en parte incrementando los precios de los activos, estas políticas no convencionales posiblemente beneficien de manera no intencional al quintil más adinerado (por lo general masculino) a expensas del estrato más pobre de la sociedad (por lo general femenino)., Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales, TRUE, pub

Unconventional monetary policy was implemented as a result of the financial crisis and resulted in rising asset prices in the stock markets. While the increase in asset prices is not exclusively triggered by unconventional monetary policy, central bankers accept that unconventional monetary policy has resulted in distributional effects on wealth, and that these are not negligible. What is missing are studies analyzing whether these non-standard monetary policies have different distributional effects on women and men. The intent of the paper is to interrogate whether unconventional monetary policy of central banks has a gender bias that operates in favor of men as gender and against women as gender. Relying on insights from feminist economics, the paper uses the results of the ECB Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) of 62,000 household across 15 euro-area countries. While the results are tentative, they show an asymmetric distributional gendered impact. Since the rich own more assets than the poor, and since monetary easing works in part by raising asset prices, these unconventional policies may unintentionally benefit the wealthier quintile (on average more male) at the expense of the poorer strata of society (on average more female).

Unconventional monetary policy was implemented as a result of the financial crisis and resulted in rising asset prices in the stock markets. While the increase in asset prices is not exclusively triggered by unconventional monetary policy, central bankers accept that unconventional monetary policy has resulted in distributional effects on wealth, and that these are not negligible. What is missing are studies analyzing whether these non-standard monetary policies have different distributional effects on women and men. The intent of the paper is to interrogate whether unconventional monetary policy of central banks has a gender bias that operates in favor of men as gender and against women as gender. Relying on insights from feminist economics, the paper uses the results of the ECB Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) of 62,000 household across 15 euro-area countries. While the results are tentative, they show an asymmetric distributional gendered impact. Since the rich own more assets than the poor, and since monetary easing works in part by raising asset prices, these unconventional policies may unintentionally benefit the wealthier quintile (on average more male) at the expense of the poorer strata of society (on average more female).

Ein Finanzsystem, das die Realwirtschaft unterstützt, setzt ein anderes Verständnis von Normen und Werten voraus. Finanzmarktstabilität ist kein privates, sondern ein öffentliches Gut. Das Mitspracherecht in der Bereitstellung von öffentlichen Regelungen zur Stabilität der Finanzmärkte sowie eine faire und gerechte Verteilung des Nutzens von Finanzprodukten müssen daher im Mittelpunkt multilateraler und regionaler Verhandlungen stehen. Mit Recht fordern Bürgerinnen und Bürger eine gerechte Teilhabe an den Verhandlungsprozessen und dem Nettonutzen aus dem Finanzsektor. Ein Beginn könnte mit der Zertifizierung von Finanzprodukten und der Gründung einer internationalen Zertifizierungsorganisation gemacht werden. Finanzinnovationen sollten eine Testphase durchlaufen und dann lizensiert in den Umlauf gebracht werden, wenn sie sich während der Testphase als normengerecht herausgestellt haben. So könnten faire Preisbildung und neue Methoden des Risikomanagements entwickelt werden., A financial system that supports the real economy requires a different understanding of norms and values. Financial stability is not a private good, but a public good. The right to participate in preparing rules for the stability of financial markets as well as guaranteeing a fair and just distribution of the net benefits has to be the focal point in multilateral and regional negotiations. Rightly, citizens demand a more just participation in the process of decision-making and that the net benefits from the financial sector are equitable distributed. A start could be made with the certification of financial products and the launch of an international organization for the certification. Financial innovations should go through a test phase and subsequently licensed if they meet the standards before circulating it through the financial markets. Such a process could lead to a fair pricing process and new methods of risk management.

'Das Konzept des Shareholder Value ist durch die jüngsten Entwicklungen im Unternehmenssektor, vor allem durch die Bilanz- und Betrugsskandale von TNC's und die damit verbundene Vernichtung von Arbeitsplätzen in die Kritik geraten. In den politischen Debatten über Shareholder Value wird ein Systemunterschied zwischen dem 'Stakeholder-Ansatz' (wie im rheinischen Kapitalismus) und dem mit der Liberalisierung der Finanzmärkte Ende der 70er Jahre in den USA entwickelten Begriff Shareholder Value (angelsächsischer Kapitalismus) skizziert. Ziel des Papiers ist es die Widersprüchlichkeit und Ungenauigkeit des Shareholder Value Konzeptes theoretisch zu untersuchen, um dann zu zeigen, wie Shareholder Value den amerikanischen Kapitalismus seit den 70er Jahren verändert hat und warum diese Variante des Kapitalismus sich auch immer mehr als Unternehmerstrategie in Europa durchsetzt.' (Autorenreferat), 'The concept of shareholder value has come in for heavy criticism as a result of the recent developments in the corporate governance sector, particularly the revelations of false accounting by global corporate titans and the subsequent large lay-offs in the workforce. In the debates, two models of capitalism are contrasted. On the one hand, the 'Stakeholder' capitalism (as in the 'rhinish' model)and, on the other, the model of Shareholder Value (anglo-saxon model), which emerged as a result of the liberalisation of the US financial markets at the end of the 70s. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the contradictions and theoretical confusion about the concept of Shareholder Value, in order to demonstrate how Shareholder Value has initiated changes in the Anglo-Saxon capitalism since the 1970s, and why Shareholder Value is increasingly accepted as a corporate governance strategy in Europe.' (author's abstract)