written by
Ferrara, Federico
Does clarity make central banks more engaging? Lessons from ECB communications – European Journal of Political Economy
05/09/2022
scritto da
Ferrara, Federico

Abstract:

Despite increasing communication efforts, it may be difficult for central banks to engage the public, as their language is often too difficult to understand for most citizens. Focusing on the case of the European Central Bank (ECB), we hypothesise that greater communication clarity is conducive to stronger engagement. We rely on readability metrics to measure the clarity of ECB communications. We show that communication clarity is a significant and robust predictor of the media engagement generated by the ECB with its speeches, press conferences and tweets. Our findings are validated by a placebo test and have significant policy implications for central bank communication.

To cite this article:

Federico Maria Ferrara, Siria Angino. (2022) Does clarity make central banks more engaging? Lessons from ECB communications, European Journal of Political Economy, Volume 74, 2022, 102146, ISSN 0176-2680, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102146.

#Central bank communication #Clarity #ECB #Engagement #Media #Readability metrics
from the same author:
What difference does the framing of a crisis make to European Union solidarity? – European Union Politics
Crisis pressures and European integration – Journal of European Public Policy
partners
This project is funded with a Synergy Grant by the European Research Council under Grant Agreement n. 810356. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.