An economic or financial policymaker without credibility, history tells us, ceases to be a functioning policymaker. Removal of the veil, breaches of the social contract, leaves the economy and financial system vulnerable. There is no single measure, nor quick fix, for closing these twin deficits with the general public. The supply chain for secret sauce, of building and restoring trust and understanding, is long and arduous. Nonetheless, it seems clear that increased engagement between policymakers and wider society is a necessary ingredient for its manufacture. From other spheres, such as medicine, we know that trust and understanding are built on everyday engagement. For the Bank of England, with the scars of the financial crisis still healing, the case for continuing to build those foundations is strong. 2  Haldane (2017a). The RSA call these benefits improved “agency” among citizens. Tetlock and Gardner (2016). The RSA call these benefits improved “efficacy” of policymaking. Botsman (2017). 5 See, for example, the Edelman Trust Barometer. The RSA call these benefits improved “legitimacy” of policymaking. 3 4  3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  3  The Means  If the case is strong, how best is this citizen engagement to be achieved? The RSA report provides a nice framework for addressing this question. This is based on the “ladder of participation” model, devised 6  originally by Sherry Arnstein in the late 1960s. The rungs of the engagement ladder are, in ascending order: inform; consult; involve; collaborate; and empower.
Some of my findings – in the form of words, photos and cartoons – are available at https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/outreach#. I find that cartoons can be particularly effective, indeed much better than words, in capturing the sentiment and narrative in the room. For example, consider this one on what the local community saw as their key challenges and frustrations, taken from my visit to South Wales. Or this one, on the role of charities in the community from my visit to Leicester. 7  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  7  Or this one, on housing and other issues facing young people from my recent visit to Blackpool. These pictorial narratives provide a simple visual summary which, unlike the written word, can be digested by anyone in less than a minute. They are also a very useful cross-check on my own understanding and a check on my own cognitive biases. Often, I find that the message my non-economist scribe, David, takes from these meetings is different than my own. 14  In these situations, I take David’s reading of the room as  probably the truer reflection of what citizens have really said. I call these visits my Townhall Tours, though this is a rubbish description as I have yet to visit a town hall. I am told that anthropologists would call what I am doing “deep hanging out”, after anthropologist Clifford Geertz. 15  Deep hanging out sounds more appealing than visiting town halls.