doi:10.2478/jcbtp-2023-0031engPeña, GuillermoRaising Interest Rates for Improving IncomeART-2023-134928This paper illustrates a case where an increase of the interest rates improves the economic activity and reduces income inequality. This theoretical exercise deals with a simple model of disequilibrium with accountant identities of budget constraints. In addition, and following previous models, the effect of the COVID-19 shock is considered, by reflecting asymmetric repercussions that increase income inequality. A simple empirical exercise confirms some of the previous results. The proposed explanation is that, for the euro area, this shock has affected more middle-income households such as the retailers harmed by the compulsory lockdown who have increased their debts.2023http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/12783410.2478/jcbtp-2023-0031http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/127834oai:zaguan.unizar.es:127834info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/S23-20Rinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/S39-23Rinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/PID2020-112773GB-I00info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/UZ/JIUZ-2022-CSJ-19Journal of Central Banking Theory and Practice 12, 3 (2023), 199-217byhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess