Survey on Germans’ Attitudes Towards and Knowledge of Monetary Policy Issues: Documentation of Survey Methodology and Descriptive Results

Abstract

This paper provides background information, questionnaires, and basic descriptive statistics for a representative survey of the German population conducted on our behalf by GfK in 2011. Our aim is to discover the German public’s knowledge about the ECB specifically, and monetary policy in general. We also examine our respondents’ self-perception of their knowledge and how they use media relating to the topic. A detailed descriptive analysis reveals that the German public’s factual knowledge is far from perfect, and their self-perception of this knowledge is equally poor. The general public is reasonably interested in information about the ECB and mainly watches TV or reads newspapers to keep informed. We discover significant differences in knowledge and media use across socio-demographic subgroups. On average, male respondents and those with higher levels of education or income are more interested in the ECB, more knowledgeable about it, and more confident in their own knowledge.