Enhancing central bank communications with behavioural insights

David Bholat, Nida Broughton (), Alice Parker (), Janna Ter Meer () and Eryk Walczak
Additional contact information
Nida Broughton: Behavioural Insight Team
Alice Parker: Bank of England, Postal: Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH
Janna Ter Meer: Behavioural Insights Team

No 750, Bank of England working papers from Bank of England

Abstract: In this joint Bank of England and Behavioural Insights Team study, we test the effectiveness of different approaches to central bank communications. Using an online experiment with a representative sample of the UK population, we measure how changes to the Bank of England’s summaries of the Inflation Report impact comprehension and trust in its policy messages. We find that the recently introduced Visual Summary of the Inflation Report improves comprehension of its main messages in a statistically significant way compared to the traditional executive summary. We also find that public comprehension and trust can be further improved by making the Visual Summary more relatable to people’s lives. Our findings thus shed light on how central banks can improve communication with the public at a time when trust in public institutions has fallen, while the responsibilities delegated to central banks have increased.

Keywords: Central bank communications; central bank legitimacy; experimental economics; behavioural economics; Bank of England Vision 2020 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 A13 A29 C21 C83 C90 C91 C93 D83 D91 E52 E58 E70 G41 M38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2018-08-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-exp, nep-mac and nep-mon
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:boe:boeewp:0750

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