Sunday, March 23, 2014

Yellen and communication skills



Say exactly what you mean no more for no less. Good advice for any writer or anyone giving a speech. Harder in practice. No wants to be committed to precise wording. It limits future options. Central bankers do not want to be limited by their language, yet the new era of forward guidance is calling for more precision.

When Chairman Yellen says, "we use a wide range of indicator" to explain her commitment to raising rates or says, we will need to "assess progress" before making any changes, she is being very imprecise. Answering the question of when the first rate rise would occur, she answered, "something on the order of around six months". This is much more precise than some might have expected. Chairman Yellen is going to have to work on these communication skills. 

The issue is that imprecision causes more uncertainty and more focus on any announcement and this is not what we should expect from central bankers. 

2 comments:

Sridhar Chandrasekaran said...

Brilliant and interesting tips. Every point is noteworthy and will enhance our interpersonal relationships. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading your post.

Sridhar Chandrasekaran said...

Brilliant and interesting tips. Every point is noteworthy and will enhance our interpersonal relationships. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading your post.