This dissertation studies distributional effect of (un)conventional monetary policies on Japanese household and corporate finances. It puts a special focus on household saving(s) and household income. The dissertation consists of four independent essays. In the first essay “Low Interest Rate Policy and Savings Culture in Japan: Implications for Economic Policy” the change in the savings culture in Japan during more than 30 years of low, zero and negative interest rate policies is examined. It is shown how the Bank of Japan’s persistently loose monetary policy changed the household and corporate savings culture in Japan. The second essay “Japanese Monetary Policy and Determinants of Household Saving” analyzes determinants of the household saving rate in Japan between 1960 and 2019. It finds that the zero-interest rate policy and unconventional monetary policies of the Bank of Japan are associated with the decline in the Japanese household saving rate. In the third essay “Japanese Unconventional Monetary Policy and Household Saving” the impact of expansionary monetary policies on household saving in Japan between 1993 and 2017 is analyzed. It shows that monetary expansion is associated with a widening gap in the wealth distribution through an adverse effect on non-academic households. The fourth essay “The Effects of Unconventional Monetary Policy on Stock Markets and Household Incomes in Japan” studies the distributional effects of monetary policy on Japanese household incomes. It is shown that the Bank of Japan’s unconventional monetary policy has contributed to a widening gap in the income distribution through the portfolio channel

Sweden is the most gender-equal country in Europe, but nevertheless, there are still flaws in  certain areas, especially within the walls of the household when it comes to chores and financial responsibility. This examination is a qualitative, semi-structured interview study. The selection of respondents in this study are six heterosexual couples in the age of 20-30 and 40-60 years old, who lives together. My theoretical points of departure are Bourdieus’s theory of habitus, as well as his theory of cultural capital, which I have chosen to call resources in this study, along with a concept of generation which defines by a number of other renown scientists in the area. The study came to show that the couples which partook, tries hard to weigh out for the injustices in their relationship connected to, for example, their habitus and resources. In this study, I refer to this as compensations. These compensations are sorted into three themes: education and income, the lack of a parent, together with age and time. The result showed that the couples divided their home finances as equal as possible, that the women had a lower income than the men if they didn’t have an education, and that the people who had grown up with a single parent had from a young age had to help out a lot with chores at home. It also showed that the older couples did not wanted to follow in their own parents footsteps, but instead they wanted to create a more equal relationship by helping each other more. The younger couples had the same point of view.   The conclusions I drew from this are that the women needed a higher education in order to make as much money as their male partner, but also in order to have the possibility of making even more. It also emerged that the respondents compensated a little extra if they themselves had experienced the lack of a parent, since they had learned the value of helping each other and not letting one person draw the heavy load all by oneself.   At last but not least, the study showed that the aspect of generation had some influence since the couples broke the old conventions in one way or the other, in terms of the norms of the male versus the female role in the household.

This dissertation studies distributional effect of (un)conventional monetary policies on Japanese household and corporate finances. It puts a special focus on household saving(s) and household income. The dissertation consists of four independent essays. In the first essay “Low Interest Rate Policy and Savings Culture in Japan: Implications for Economic Policy” the change in the savings culture in Japan during more than 30 years of low, zero and negative interest rate policies is examined. It is shown how the Bank of Japan’s persistently loose monetary policy changed the household and corporate savings culture in Japan. The second essay “Japanese Monetary Policy and Determinants of Household Saving” analyzes determinants of the household saving rate in Japan between 1960 and 2019. It finds that the zero-interest rate policy and unconventional monetary policies of the Bank of Japan are associated with the decline in the Japanese household saving rate. In the third essay “Japanese Unconventional Monetary Policy and Household Saving” the impact of expansionary monetary policies on household saving in Japan between 1993 and 2017 is analyzed. It shows that monetary expansion is associated with a widening gap in the wealth distribution through an adverse effect on non-academic households. The fourth essay “The Effects of Unconventional Monetary Policy on Stock Markets and Household Incomes in Japan” studies the distributional effects of monetary policy on Japanese household incomes. It is shown that the Bank of Japan’s unconventional monetary policy has contributed to a widening gap in the income distribution through the portfolio channel

This bachelor thesis aims to study the relationship between higher capital costs and the households' ability to repay their loans as well as how this affects the housing market. The work studies three areas in three different municipalities in the Stockholm region. The limitations for this report were that it primarily focused on areas that have relatively new housing developments where the interest rate was the sole alternating variable. Today, the interest rates for housing loans are very low which has resulted in that Swedish people has record breaking high leverages. Recently, a new amortization requirement was adopted. This will affect all households when they take new loans with an LTV of 50 percent. House prices in Sweden are at a historically high level, especially in the Stockholm region. Households’ expectations play a large impact on prices, and some experts believe that the market today is overvalued and that we are in a housing bubble, which, if it bursts, can bring negative impact on the housing market. Consequently, migration and housing demands has not previously been seen at these levels in Stockholm. In this paper, we intend to examine how rising interest rates will affect households with different leverage ratios in three different municipalities in the Stockholm county region. Utilizing data from sources such as InsightOne and Konsumentverket among others a spreadsheet was created comparing four different typical households that reflect the most common household composition within the selected municipalities. The disposable income, after all expenses for accommodation and necessities accounted for, will be examined. We will also analyze how these households would cope in a scenario where changing fundamentals give households higher housing costs and further how the selected municipalities, all of which have a relatively high rate of construction, would be affected by a sudden drop in prices on the market. A spreadsheet with data from Statistics Sweden was also set up to investigate the percentage of all households in Stockholm that have the same capital costs as a custom range of the selected mosaichouseholds’. Our results show that not all households could cope with increased housing costs such as higher interest rates among other factors. According to the calculated budget estimate for each typical household, it was concluded that some households would be unable to cover their monthly necessities. In a scenario where this would become reality, the households with a high leverage and a high interest rate would have a much smaller amount of money to live on each month. This would lead to a reduction in consumption and a decrease in demand for housing, which would result in a less secure position in the housing market and force households to reassess its choice of timing for this type of investment. Ultimately this could lead to vacancies in the municipalities we investigated that are located quite a bit outside the city center. Based on our results, we consider the hypothesis proven; due to half of the mosaic households in the study reflecting a deficit in their budget when the leverage and interest rates peaked at high levels. Based on the income statistics from SCB, we could also deduce that 49.8 percent of all households in the Stockholm region displayed a lower annual income than the investigated mosaic households. Consequently, these households would demonstrate a greater deficit in their budget if their housing costs rose. / Kandidatarbetet syftar till att studera hur högre kapitalkostnader påverkar hushållens betalningsförmåga och vilka effekter det kan få på bostadsmarknaden. I arbetet undersöks tre områden i tre olika kommuner i stockholmsregionen. I rapporten finns begränsningen att räntorna är den enda variabeln som ändras och att det i de områden som undersöks finns relativt nyproducerade bostäder. I dagsläget är räntenivåerna väldigt låga för bostadslån och det har medfört att svenskarna aldrig någonsin har varit så högt belånade. Nyligen har även ett nytt amorteringskrav antagits, vilket kommer att påverka alla hushåll som tar nya lån med en belåningsgrad över 50 procent. Bostadspriserna ligger idag på en historiskt hög nivå och speciellt hög är prisutvecklingen i Stockholmsregionen. Hushållens förväntningar har en stor inverkan på priserna och vissa experter menar att marknaden idag är övervärderad och att vi befinner oss i en bostadsbubbla som, om den spricker, kan innebära stora negativa konsekvenser för bostadsmarknaden. Samtidigt har inflyttningen och efterfrågan på bostäder aldrig varit så hög som nu inom Stockholms län. I denna uppsats avser vi att undersöka hur en stigande ränta kan påverka hushåll med olika belåningsgrader i tre olika kommuner inom Stockholms län. Med hjälp av data från bland annat InsightOne och Konsumentverket har en kalkyl för fyra olika typhushåll ställts upp som speglar den vanligaste hushållssammansättningen i de valda områdena. Här kommer sedan den disponibla inkomsten efter att alla utgifter för boende och nödvändigheter är betalade att undersökas. Vi kommer därefter att analysera hur dessa hushåll skulle klara sig i ett scenario där förändrade fundamentala faktorer ger hushållen högre boendekostnader och vidare hur de valda kommunerna, som alla har en relativt hög nybyggnadstakt, skulle komma att påverkas av ett plötsligt prisfall på marknaden. Dessutom har en kalkyl med data från SCB satts upp för att undersöka hur många procent av alla hushåll i Stockholms län som har samma årsinkomst som ett anpassat intervall av de valda mosaichushållen. Våra resultat visar att inte alla hushåll skulle klara av ökade boendekostnader, exempelvis som en följd av högre räntor. De skulle alltså gått med underskott varje månad enligt den budget vi ställt upp för varje mosaichushåll och som redovisar de viktigaste utgifterna ett hushåll med denna sammansättning har. I ett scenario där detta blir verklighet skulle alltså hushåll med en hög belåningsgrad och höga räntor få en betydligt mindre summa pengar att leva på varje månad efter att alla nödvändiga kostnader är betalde, vilket skulle leda till en minskad konsumtion och minskad efterfrågan på bostäder. Detta skulle i sin tur leda till ett osäkrare läge på bostadsmarknaden, vilket skulle få ytterligare hushåll att omvärdera sitt val av tidpunkt för denna typ av investering. I slutändan skulle detta kunna komma att leda till vakanser i de kommuner vi valt att undersöka och som ligger någon eller några mil utanför innerstaden med dess ständigt höga efterfrågan på bostäder. Utifrån våra resultat kan den uppställda hypotesen styrkas. Detta då hälften av de mosaichushåll vi utgick ifrån i undersökningen visade ett underskott i sin budget då ränta och belåningsgrad låg på en hög, om än inte orimlig, nivå. Utifrån inkomststatistiken från SCB kunde vi även utläsa att hela 49.8 procent av alla hushåll inom Stockholms län har en lägre årsinkomst än de undersökta mosaichushållen, vilket innebär att dessa hushåll skulle visa ett större underskott i sin budget om deras boendekostnader ökade.