The messenger matters

Does the messenger matter in public communication? To be impactful, policy communication - on monetary, climate, fiscal, or other issues - must reach people and influence their beliefs. This paper combines big data, causal experimental evidence, and theory to study the role of messenger identity. When audiences share identity traits with messengers, policymakers become more salient, messages more available, and signals more influential. A generalized coordination model demonstrates that diverse messengers maximize welfare when public information is precise, while centralized communication does so when it is imprecise, identifying strategic messenger selection as an additional policy tool distinct from disclosure policies.