FRANKFURT—New research published by the European Central Bank (ECB) pushes back against criticism levelled at its 2.4 trillion euro stimulus program, indicating it did not increase inequality and helped boost poorer households’ income by putting people back to work.
The arguments in the paper released on July 18 help counter accusations, particularly from German politicians and news media, that the stimulus program hurt savers by depressing returns and benefited financially wobbly southern European governments such as Italy’s through lower borrowing costs.
