The CEPR RPN 'Central Bank Communication as a Public Good' Workshop

The Event was part of the Central Bank Communication RPN's activities. 

At a workshop hosted by the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 28 participants of the CEPR Research and Policy Network on Central Bank Communication discussed the current state of central bank communication research and practice, shared findings and identified research gaps. While a significant body of research on central bank communication, in particular with the focus on financial markets, already exists, other aspects, such as the impact of central bank communication on people’s spending, saving and investment decisions or the limits of central bank communication have not yet been sufficiently explored.

The workshop was structured around three sessions focusing on central bank communication with the wider public, the limits of central bank transparency and the role of intermediaries of central bank communication. In addition, direct interaction with two prominent practitioners of central bank communication offered further important insights. Markus Gürne, presenter of Germany’s prime time TV programme on finance and economics, shared his experience on how to ‘get through’ to the wider public with messages about the economy, emphasising the need to make such issues concretely relevant to people’s lives, and that his coverage of central banking matters is overwhelmingly determined by the demand of his viewers, rather than the supply of communication by the central bank. ECB Chief Economist Philip Lane, in his dinner speech, gave insight into communication challenges for monetary policymakers.