Inflation – stealing from the poor.

Quantitative easing (QE) is a non-traditional monetary policy tool that central banks, such as the Federal Reserve in the United States, use to inject liquidity into the financial system. It involves the central bank buying government securities or other securities from the market in order to increase the money supply and encourage lending and investment.

The connection between QE, inflation, and corporate stock buybacks can be understood through the following sequence:

1. Central Bank Actions: During periods of QE, the central bank buys securities, typically government bonds, from financial institutions. This increases the reserves of these institutions and floods the market with cash. As a result, short-term interest rates tend to drop, sometimes even approaching zero.
2. Cheap Borrowing Costs: With interest rates being extremely low, borrowing becomes cheaper for everyone, including corporations. Corporations can issue bonds or take out loans at historically low rates.
3. Stock Buybacks: Instead of using this borrowed money for capital expenditures, research & development, or other productive uses, some corporations chose to buy back their own stock. Stock buybacks can increase earnings per share and prop up stock prices, benefiting shareholders and executives whose compensations are often tied to stock performance.
4. Effects on Inflation: The connection between QE and inflation is multifaceted. By increasing the money supply, QE can, in theory, lead to inflation. However, whether inflation occurs depends on various factors, including the velocity of money (how quickly money changes hands in the economy). If the newly created money isn’t being spent on goods and services but is instead used for financial transactions like stock buybacks, the inflationary impact on consumer goods may be muted. However, we might see asset inflation, where the prices of assets like stocks, real estate, and other investment vehicles increase. This kind of inflation can exacerbate wealth inequality, as those who own these assets see their value rise, while those who don’t may face rising costs without the accompanying rise in asset values.
5. Further Implications: While QE aims to encourage lending and spur economic activity, critics argue that it has unintended consequences. The corporate incentive to use cheap debt for stock buybacks, for instance, may divert funds from more productive uses. Furthermore, by artificially propping up stock prices, true price discovery in equity markets can be obscured.

In conclusion, while QE was designed as a tool to combat economic downturns and spur lending, its effects ripple throughout the economy in complex ways. The phenomenon of corporations using cheap debt for stock buybacks is one of the many unintended consequences of such expansive monetary policies.