- Central banks have used communication about the inflation outlook as an additional policy tool in response to the post-pandemic inflation surge. We present novel survey evidence that the ECB‘s guidance about its projected inflation path can substantially lower households‘ inflation expectations when kept in a sophisticatedly simple (KISS) way.
- In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the onset of Russia‘s war against Ukraine, central banks worldwide have struggled to contain inflation. When inflation rates run substantially above the central bank‘s inflation target over a prolonged period, inflation expectations risk de-anchoring. This could impede the price and wage formation processes in the economy and have undesirable effects on price stability. To inform economic agents, central banks have increasingly used communication about their inflation outlook to limit spillover from realized to expected inflation.