By Rashmi Harimohan of the Bank’s Monetary Assessment and Strategy Division and Rosey Jeffery of the Bank’s Public Communications and Information Division.
The past few years have been an extraordinary period for the UK economy and monetary policy. This article examines how that has affected households’ awareness and understanding of monetary policy. Results from the Bank/GfK NOP survey suggest that public awareness of the policy framework has remained broadly constant throughout the life of the survey, but that the Bank’s asset purchase programme appears to be less well understood than the setting of interest rates. Satisfaction with the way the Bank sets interest rates has fallen since the onset of the financial crisis, but remains positive. That may, in part, reflect ongoing concerns about the economic outlook.
Public attitudes to monetary policy and satisfaction with the Bank