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Trust in the central bank and inflation expectation

Author

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  • Christelis, Dimitris
  • Georgarakos, Dimitris
  • Jappelli, Tullio
  • van Rooij, Maarten

Abstract

Using micro data from the 2015 Dutch CentERpanel, we examine whether trust in the European Central Bank (ECB) influences individuals’ expectations and uncertainty about future inflation, and whether it anchors inflation expectations. We find that higher trust in the ECB lowers inflation expectations on average, and significantly reduces uncertainty about future inflation. Moreover, results from quantile regressions suggest that trusting the ECB increases (lowers) inflation expectations when the latter are below (above) the ECB’s inflation target. These findings hold after controlling for people’s knowledge about the objectives of the ECB. JEL Classification: D12, D81, E03, E40, E58

Suggested Citation

  • Christelis, Dimitris & Georgarakos, Dimitris & Jappelli, Tullio & van Rooij, Maarten, 2020. "Trust in the central bank and inflation expectation," Working Paper Series 2375, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20202375
    Note: 483508
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    Cited by:

    1. Francesco D'Acunto & Daniel Hoang & Michael Weber & Michael Weber, 2019. "Managing Households' Expectations with Salient Economic Policies," CESifo Working Paper Series 7793, CESifo.
    2. Peter Backé & Elisabeth Beckmann, 2020. "What drives people’s expectations of euro adoption? – Evidence from the OeNB Euro Survey on selected CESEE countries," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q4/20, pages 57-79.
    3. Gabriele Galati & Richhild Moessner & Maarten van Rooij, 2020. "The anchoring of long-term inflation expectations of consumers: insights from a new survey," DNB Working Papers 688, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    4. Rumler, Fabio & Valderrama, María Teresa, 2020. "Inflation literacy and inflation expectations: Evidence from Austrian household survey data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 8-23.
    5. Francesco D’Acunto & Daniel Hoang & Michael Weber, 2020. "Managing Households' Expectations with Unconventional Policies," NBER Working Papers 27399, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Mellina, Sathya & Schmidt, Tobias, 2018. "The role of central bank knowledge and trust for the public's inflation expectations," Discussion Papers 32/2018, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    7. de Oliveira, Fernando Nascimento & Gaglianone, Wagner Piazza, 2020. "Expectations anchoring indexes for Brazil using Kalman filter: Exploring signals of inflation anchoring in the long term," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 72-91.
    8. Lamla, Michael & PJaifar, Damian & Rendell, Lea, 2019. "Inflation and Deflationary Biases in Inflation Expectations," Essex Finance Centre Working Papers 24771, University of Essex, Essex Business School.
    9. Francesco D'Acunto & Daniel Hoang & Maritta Paloviita & Michael Weber, 2019. "Human Frictions to the Transmission of Economic Policy," 2019 Meeting Papers 339, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Coibion, Olivier & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Kumar, Saten & Pedemonte, Mathieu, 2020. "Inflation expectations as a policy tool?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    11. Goldfayn-Frank, Olga & Wohlfart, Johannes, 2020. "Expectation formation in a new environment: Evidence from the German reunification," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 301-320.
    12. Maarten van Rooij & Jakob de Haan, 2016. "Will helicopter money be spent? New evidence," DNB Working Papers 538, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    13. Marco Bottone & Alfonso Rosolia, 2019. "Monetary policy, firms’ inflation expectations and prices: causal evidence from firm-level data," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1218, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    14. Dumitriu, Ramona & Stefanescu, Răzvan, 2020. "Provocări pentru Finanţele Comportamentale în contextul COVID-19 [Some challenges for the Behavioral Finance in the Context of COVID-19]," MPRA Paper 99675, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Apr 2020.
    15. In Do Hwang, 2018. "Central Bank Reputation and Inflation-Unemployment Performance: Empirical Evidence from an Executive Survey of 62 Countries," Working Papers 2018-14, Economic Research Institute, Bank of Korea.
    16. Michael Lamla & Damjan Pfajfar & Lea Rendell, 2018. "Confidence in Central Banks and Inflation Expectations," 2018 Meeting Papers 945, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    17. Dennis Bonam & Gabriele Galati & Irma Hindrayanto & Marco Hoeberichts & Anna Samarina & Irina Stanga, 2019. "Inflation in the euro area since the Global Financial Crisis," DNB Occasional Studies 1703, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    anchoring; consumer expectations; inflation uncertainty; trust in the ECB;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • E03 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Macroeconomics
    • E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

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