Staff Working Paper No. 1,047
By Michael McMahon and Matthew Naylor
Policymakers communicate complex messages to multiple audiences; we investigate how complexity impacts messages ‘getting through’ effectively. We distinguish ‘syntactic’ complexity – the focus of existing empirical studies – from ‘conceptual’ complexity, which better reflects information‑processing costs identified by theory. We conduct an information‑provision experiment using central bank communications. Via a novel measure we construct, we show that conceptual complexity matters more for getting through, even for economics‑trained individuals. Yet, recent central bank efforts to simplify language reduced traditional syntactic measures, but conceptual complexity has actually increased. Our findings can direct efforts for effective policy communication design.
This version was updated in May 2026.
Getting through: communicating complex information