Central Banks’ Transparency: Words as Signals

Evidence of the evolution of ideas on central bank transparency can be found in the central bankersO speeches during the period 1997-2012. Exploratory analysis of the central bankersO speeches provides an overview of their use of language: speeches define the historical evolution of central banksO discourses, and thus suggest how the concept of transparency has evolved. The paper invites reconsideration of the role of central banksO transparency through analysis of central bankersO speeches and their use of language as a part of their communication framework. While literature on transparency indexes shows increasing central bank transparency, the semantic area of transparency in central bankersO speeches changed over the period 1997-2012. The paper investigates this evolution until recent shift towards new semantic areas pertaining more to the financial and real economy than to traditional inflation concerns.