Dear colleagues, The Department of Economics cordially invites you to the WU Economics Research Seminar on Wednesday, April 24th, with Lena Bjerkander (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg) on "The importance of ECB speeches and their complexity as monetary policy instruments" Abstract: Using the timing and content of speeches by presidents of the European Central Bank (ECB), I investigate the importance of speeches as a measure of high-frequency monetary policy shocks. In particular, I examine financial markets movements in tight windows around speeches and compare them to price changes around press statements and conferences on regular ECB monetary policy meeting days. Additionally, I consider the role of linguistic complexity of speeches and regular communication for the size of announcement effects on financial markets. The findings show that monetary policy shocks around speeches are similar in size to those around regular meeting days emphasizing the significance of speeches as monetary policy instruments. Date: Wednesday, April 24th Time: 4.30 to 6 pm (CET) Location: building D4, ground floor, room D4.0.019<https://campus.wu.ac.at/?q=D4.0.019> With best regards, Harald Oberhofer --- Univ.-Prof. Dr. Harald Oberhofer Department of Economics WU Vienna University of Economics and Business Phone: +43/1/31336-4984 Email: harald.oberhofer@wu.ac.at<mailto:harald.oberhofer@wu.ac.at> Webpage: https://www.wu.ac.at/ie/mitarbeiter/harald-oberhofer/ Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) Phone: +43/1/7982601-468 Email: harald.oberhofer@wifo.ac.at<mailto:harald.oberhofer@wifo.ac.at> Webpage: http://www.wifo.ac.at/harald_oberhofer