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What people believe about monetary finance and what we can(‘t) do about it: Evidence from a large-scale, multi-country survey experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Cars Hommes

    (University of Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute, Bank of Canada)

  • Julien Pinter

    (Minho University, Universidad de Alicante)

  • Isabelle Salle

    (University of Ottawa, University of Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute)

Abstract
We conduct an information-provision experiment within a large-scale household survey on public finance in France, The Netherlands and Italy. We elicit prior opinions via open-ended (OE) questions and introduce a measure of macroeconomic policy literacy. A central bank (CB) educational blogpost explaining the mechanics of CB money preceded by a short video clip on public finance can persistently induce less support for monetary-financed proposals, which induces more support for fiscal discipline and CB independence, no matter the respondents’ level of policy literacy. However, prior beliefs matter and contradictory information may be polarizing. Information is shown to affect views by shifting the respondents’ inflation and tax expectations associated to policy options.

Suggested Citation

  • Cars Hommes & Julien Pinter & Isabelle Salle, 2024. "What people believe about monetary finance and what we can(‘t) do about it: Evidence from a large-scale, multi-country survey experiment," Working Papers 2024.9, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    • Handle: RePEc:inf:wpaper:2024.9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Dräger, Lena & Nghiem, Giang, 2023. "Inflation Literacy, Inflation Expectations, and Trust in the Central Bank: A Survey Experiment," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277587, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Large-scale household survey; information-provision experiment; RCT; central bank communication; expectations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics

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