Does the Media Help the General Public in Understanding Inflation?
利用荷兰家庭调查数据,研究媒体使用对公众通胀认知和预期的影响,发现更频繁阅读大众报纸反而与通胀认知准确性略低相关,非印刷媒体也无助于提高准确性。
Abstract This paper studies whether media information helps the general public in understanding inflation. We combine detailed Dutch household survey data on media usage, inflation perceptions, and inflation expectations. We find no evidence that more‐often informed members of the general public do better in understanding inflation. In fact, more frequent readership of popular newspapers is associated with slightly less accurate inflation perceptions. There is also no evidence that usage of non‐print media leads to more accurate of views on inflation. One implication of these results is that central banks might need to consider more direct ways of engaging with the general public.