RDP 2021-05: Central Bank Communication: One Size Does Not Fit All 8. Conclusion

In this study, we developed a novel approach of using survey data and machine learning models to assess the communication quality of central bank publications. To the extent that an important part of central bank transparency is to communicate ideas, positions and arguments we introduced a measure of reasoning in addition to the more commonly considered readability measure. Finally, recognising the multiplicity of readers for central bank documents, we considered how different audiences perceive the readability and reasoning of documents.

While our results are preliminary and subject to a number of limitations, they all point in a similar direction: communication needs to be adapted for different audiences and no single measure can do justice to the multiplicity of objectives communication has. There is little agreement between the economists and non-economists in our survey about the readability of paragraphs; there is little correlation between the readability of paragraphs we analysed and the reasoning contained in them; and readability alone is insufficient to capture the essence of transparent communication. Consequently, central banks aiming to improve transparency may need to present their core arguments in a range of formats with different expressions of those arguments in each. This may present a challenge for those central banks that have tended to emphasise verbatim consistency of their key messages as a way of reducing confusion. Regardless, we hope that better awareness of the various trade-offs involved in crafting communications, through the use of tools like those introduced in this paper, should lead to more effective communication in the future. We also hope that this research can serve as a foundation and catalyst for further investigation of the way different audiences perceive the multiplicity of elements that comprise effective and transparent central bank communication.