The Impact of Providing Information about the ECB's Instruments on Infation Expectations and Trust in the ECB: Experimental Evidence

Abstract

We use a random controlled trial among Dutch households to analyze whether communication about monetary policy instruments impacts inflation expectations and trust in the ECB. All participants in the survey receive information about the ECB’s goal, but only a subset also receives information about how the ECB tries to achieve this. Our results suggest that individuals who are informed about policy instruments have inflation expectations closer to the ECB’s target inflation than individuals who only receive information about the ECB’s objective. Our evidence also indicates that communication about the ECB’s instruments does not impact average trust in the ECB.

Keywords: central bank, communication, general public, trust, RCT

JEL Classification: D12, D84, E52, E58