The Federal Reserve's accommodative monetary policy and post-crisis regulatory structure is having an unintended and counterproductive effect: it's making it harder for ordinary Americans to get ahead. That argument, detailed in a paper released Monday by Federal Financial Analytics, analyzed academic research from across the globe to assess the impact of the prolonged ultra-low interest rate environment on asset prices. The conclusion is that while those accommodative policies have spurred economic activity in some areas, it has primarily resulted in the growth of assets like equities and securities that are disproportionately held by the wealthy.