Central Banks as Educators: Lessons From Instructional Design

ABSTRACT

A growing literature studies how central bank communication affects public understanding, expectations, and trust. Economists in academia and at central banks contribute theoretical, empirical, and experimental research to this literature. Central bank communication research has developed largely separately from educational psychology, a field with a longer history of designing and evaluating expert‐led learning interventions. I argue that central bank communication with the public should be studied as applied educational psychology, and in particular, instructional design. An instructional design perspective changes how researchers develop communication interventions, select outcomes, and interpret evidence. It encourages formative research and iterative design; distinguishes efficacy under controlled conditions from effectiveness in ordinary information environments; and calls for greater attention to scale‐up, retention, and the transfer of learning to new settings. Educational psychology also counsels humility about what expert‐designed interventions can accomplish and draws attention to the ethical boundary between enabling public understanding and steering audiences toward institutionally preferred beliefs or attitudes.