As a baby step, later this year I am starting a series of “Townhall” meetings around the UK, partnering with organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain, Age UK, Citizens UK and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Their purpose is to listen and learn, as much as talk and teach, to local communities about the issues that matter for them. These public events, like public language itself, need to be localised and personalised if they are to land. 71  An excellent recent example of this is contained in Carol Graham’s new book on the well-being of different cohorts of American society (Graham, 2017). 72 Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Decision Maker Survey (2017). 73 Nyman et al (2016). 22  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  22  (d) Nudging and Gaming  There are new techniques and technologies becoming available that may help central banks to improve the potency and reach of their messages and the quality and quantity of the feedback they receive on them. These techniques allow a much wider reach at a much lower cost. They also enable a dynamic process of two-way learning between central banks and the general public to take place. Semantic analysis has been a blossoming area of research over recent years, including on central bank text. But, at least insofar as research on central banks is concerned, this analysis has largely been positive and descriptive – what have central banks been communicating?
29  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  29  Chart 6A: Mentions of central banks in The Times newspaper  Bank of England  Number of mentions  Federal Reserve  14,000  Number of mentions  4,000  12,000 10,000  3,000  8,000 2,000  6,000 4,000  1,000  2,000 0 1800s  1850s  1900s  Bank of Japan  1950s  2000s  0 1900s 1920s 1940s 1960s 1980s 2000s  Number of mentions  600 500 400 300 200 100 0 1900s 1920s 1940s 1960s 1980s 2000s Source: Factiva. Notes: Charts show number of mentions per decade. 30  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  30  Chart 6B: Mentions of central banks in The Financial Times newspaper Number of mentions  Bank of England  Number of mentions  Federal Reserve  10,000  10,000  8,000  8,000  6,000  6,000  4,000  4,000  2,000  2,000  0  0  1900s 1920s 1940s 1960s 1980s 2000s  1900s 1920s 1940s 1960s 1980s 2000s  Number of mentions  Bank of Japan  3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0  1900s 1920s 1940s 1960s 1980s 2000s Source: Factiva.