This Economic Letter assesses whether the public understands the basic features of monetary policy
according to how well people’s expectations match this simple rule. We combine households’ answers to
survey questions about what they expect for future inflation, unemployment, and interest rates. We find
that household awareness depends on both demographic characteristics and on the business cycle. Higher
income and more educated households have a better grasp of relationships and changes in monetary
policy. In addition, the negative relationship between unemployment and interest rates that is apparent in
actual data only shows up in household answers during periods of labor market weakness.