Transparency in monetary policy : a survey

In this paper we provide an overview over the literature on transparency in monetary policy. We distinguish between three types of transparency, namely goal transparency, knowledge transparency and operational transparency. Goal transparency may seem desirable from a political viewpoint and there are also some economic arguments in favor of it. Knowledge transparency seems to be especially important if the central bank does not have a very good reputation for being tough on inflation since it deters central banks' attempts to surprise-inflate. The conclusions about operational transparency are mixed and further research is desirable. Nevertheless, in a multi-national environment such as the ESCB, it seems not unreasonable to withhold voting records at the present time.