Abstract

The project examined how the ECB should present inflation-related information on its website so that the wider public can easily access and understand it. This is particularly important in times of high inflation and high interest in the topic.

Using a two-step approach, the study first compared the ECB’s current practices with other central banks and national statistical institutes to explore cases of best practice. As a second step, a survey was carried out targeting non-experts across the EU to gain insights into public understanding, preferences, and attitudes regarding inflation communication. The analysis focused on four dimensions: the range of inflation-related topics, variety of formats, homepage visibility & user navigation, and data visualisation.

Findings suggest that while the ECB’s current practices are robust in certain aspects, there are significant opportunities for enhancement. Recommendations include increasing visibility of inflation data on the homepage, creating a hub page, adding topics like limitations of inflation measurement, diversifying formats to include infographics and case studies, and layering as well as offering a wider array of visualised data on the website. Limitations include potential bias in the sample of the survey which decreases the validity of the survey. To complement this project, future research could investigate how inflation-related information should be communicated via social media to further increase understanding of inflation among the wider public and drive traffic to the website.