Spelling out the benefits in personalised terms can potentially increase understanding and awareness of central banks’ actions. There is already a precedent for this in another arm of UK policymaking – tax policy. Taxpayers in the UK receive a personal scorecard, telling them how their tax payments have funded spending on various public goods at the macro-economic level. This personalisation has been found to have improved the public’s understanding and acceptance of tax policies. (b)  50  Public Education  A second way of improving public understanding is through improved public education. Many central banks have made efforts in this direction over a number of years, including through school visits, schools competitions and schools materials, including at the Bank of England and Bank of Estonia. That does not yet appear to have satiated demand from pupils and their parents, almost 80% of who say they think 51  economics should form part of the curriculum. In part in response, earlier this year the Bank of England launched a new education strategy. There are a number of elements. One is a new set of schools competitions, aimed at reaching a broader range of students. A second is a schools ambassador programme, with Bank officials giving 200 talks in schools across the UK this year. We are on schedule to hit our target. The most ambitious part of our education strategy has been to develop classroom materials on the economy and financial system for use in schools as part of the curriculum for pupils aged 11-16.
16 Haldane (2017b). 7  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  7  Golden Age of central banks, speculating on whether “peak central bank” had been reached. Some asked openly whether central bank independence was appropriate, at least on financial stability matters. I am not as pessimistic or as fatalistic as that. But I do think some of those concerns about understanding, trust and legitimacy are real. In response to them, new efforts may be needed to close the understanding and trust deficits and bridge the transparency and accountability gaps. Doing so would, I believe, leave central banks even better-informed and better-placed to deliver their core mandates in future. Here is why. Correcting the Deficits  My answer comes in two, inter-related, parts. Let me take these in turn. First, building understanding among the general public in the economy, financial system and central banks. Most people would think an improved understanding of the economy among the general public is desirable. It makes for improved decision-making by people on important everyday decisions on spending, saving, borrowing and working. The better those individual decisions (the micro), the more stable the economy and financial system are likely to be (the macro). Improved public understanding of the economy is in that sense win-win, benefitting policymakers and the public alike. But it is possible the benefits of improved public understanding in stabilising the economy and financial system have been underestimated. “Popular narratives” among the public might be more important in driving macro-economic behaviour than in the past.