11,12  10  My own  experience is that the Bank is believed by many to be either an arm of government or a high-street bank. If we turn from understanding to trust, much the same picture emerges. A survey of trust in the professions earlier this year ranked economists second bottom, with only politicians lower. 13  Doctors and nurses ranked  3  Quoted in Thompson (2016). YouGov / Post Crash Economics Society Survey (2015). 5 Bank of England / TNS Inflation Attitudes Survey (2017). 6 Financial Conduct Authority (2017). 7 Money Advice Service (2015). 8 FLY Project (2015). 9 For example, see OECD/INFE International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy Competencies. 10 Bank of England / TNS Inflation Attitudes Survey (2017). It is worth noting that 29% cite the Bank of England in their response to this question, so appear aware of the institution responsible for setting monetary policy. 11 YouGov / Post Crash Economics Society Survey (2015). 12 Bank of England (2014). 13 YouGov (2017). 4  3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  3  top. In surveys of the public, slightly more people tend to mistrust than trust the opinions of economists, even on economic matters. 14  In other words, there is a trust deficit to match the understanding deficit. That trust deficit also affects those setting economic policy, including central banks. Measured trust or satisfaction in the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England fell after the global financial crisis.
I ran through my material – why the economy mattered to them, what the Bank did for a living, what I did for a living etc. It was going about as well as I could have expected. There were plenty of attentive eyes and alert expressions. No-one walked out. “This is working”, I told myself. 59 minutes into the one hour talk, I took a final question from a girl on the far-right in the front row. It is seared on my soul. “Two questions”, she said. “Who are you? And why are you here?” At that point, those questions seemed all too appropriate. Why exactly was I there? Several hours of introspection (and therapy) later, I now have an answer. The key comes in how you keep score. If in a classroom of 50 kids you reach only 1, what is your score? Have you lost 49-1? No. You have won 1-0. This is very important when it comes to judging the success of outreach initiatives, including the Bank’s. Not engaging everyone is no reason not to try to engage someone. One is a good start. It increases the chances of two tomorrow and three the day after. The power of social networks, popular narratives and epidemics in expectations means you may be only one click from critical mass. The Bank will not reach everyone, every day of their lives. Nor does it need to, given what we do for a living.