Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/153699 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
ECB Working Paper No. 1265
Publisher: 
European Central Bank (ECB), Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
Does the general public know what central banks do? Is this kind of knowledge relevant? Using a survey of Dutch households, we investigate these questions for the case of the European Central Bank (ECB). Our findings suggest that knowledge on the ECB’s objectives is far from perfect. Both a weak desire to be informed and unawareness of insufficient knowledge are barriers for improving the public's understanding of monetary policy. However, our results also show that more intensive use of information improves understanding, suggesting that the media channel may play an important and constructive role in building knowledge. Finally, we find that knowledge on monetary policy objectives contributes to an individual's ability to form realistic inflation expectations.
Subjects: 
ECB
financial literacy
inflation expectations
knowledge
monetary policy
transparency
JEL: 
D12
D84
E52
E58
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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