The three E’s of central-bank communication with the public

Abstract

Central banks used to ask, “Shall we communicate this?” Now, as a rule, they ask, “Why wouldn’t we communicate this?” This first wave of the revolution in central-bank communication is giving rise to a second wave. The question increasingly is, “How should we communicate this in a way that engages a broader cross-section of society?” This addresses the challenge laid out by Blinder and others (2008) that “It may be time to pay some attention to communication with the general public.”