Central banks around the world seem themselves to be moving in this same direction, with greater local, citizen-level engagement. Other central banks to have recently launched community-based initiatives  include the US Federal Reserve’s “Fed Listens” events. These involve roundtables with the general public, involving local leaders, policy experts and academics from across the United States.64  61  https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/outreach Geertz (1998). Patel, Gibbon and Greenham (2018) and Haldane (2018b). 64 https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/review-of-monetary-policy-strategy-tools-and-communications-fed-listens-events.htm 62 63  46  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  46  These initiatives are a good foundation for central banks, for constructing a Third Pillar. More of these types of local, citizen-based engagements may be needed in the years ahead, if policy institutions are to shrink the twin deficits and strengthen that Third Pillar. There is scope to decentralise more of central banks’ activities, giving them greater reach, voice and engagement locally. That would certainly get my personal vote. Conclusion  Our economies, like our politics, are local. Like the seashore, the more you magnify an economy, the greater its richness, complexity, self-similarity. Like our bodies, understanding our economic health means taking readings at many resolutions. It means understanding the moving body parts, and their interactions, in microscopic detail. It calls for new data, at a higher frequency and higher resolution, and new ways of stitching it together. It means making micro-to-macro a reality.

This intelligence was soon being fed back to Head Office. During the 20th century, this intelligence-gathering role was expanded. It has grown steadily, in scale and importance, since then. Today, the Bank’s 12 Agencies across the UK have around 9,000 regular company contacts providing real-time intelligence on the economy. Structured surveys from the Agents first appeared in 1997. Agents’ National Scores were first introduced in the mid-1990s and first published in 2006. Agent’s Company Visit Scores were first developed in 2007 and first published in 2015. 59 Brexit provides as good an illustration as any of the ways the Agents’ high-frequency, high-resolution intelligence can improve the Bank’s understanding of the economy. A key question recently has been whether and how companies have been preparing for Brexit.60 The Agents’ network was used not only to track how prepared companies were over time, but what form this contingency planning was taking – stock-building, seeking alternative suppliers, building cash reserves etc (Chart 26). 56  Haldane (2017). For example, Agerström et al (2016). 58 Bank of England (1963). 59 Ellis and Pike (2005). 60 Bank of England (2019). 57  44  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  44  Chart 26: Contingency planning by firms for Brexit  Sources: Bank of England and Bank calculations. Company contacts also helped the Bank’s Brexit scenario planning. Companies were asked about the consequences for their businesses of a “no deal, no transition” Brexit. The results are shown in Chart 27.