dovish vs hawkish

The core difference

• hawkish — favouring force, or in economics, tighter policy.
• dovish — favouring negotiation, or in economics, looser policy.

The original sense

In foreign policy a hawk supports military action; a dove prefers diplomacy and restraint. The usage became fixed in American English during the Vietnam era, though war hawk goes back to the early nineteenth century and the run-up to the War of 1812.

The monetary sense, which is now the commoner one

Applied to central banks, the pair means something quite different:

• Hawkish — treating inflation as the main risk. Favours higher interest rates and tighter money, accepting slower growth as the cost.
• Dovish — treating unemployment and weak growth as the main risk. Favours lower rates and looser money, accepting more inflation risk.

Financial journalism now uses these words constantly, describing a speech or a set of minutes as hawkish or dovish depending on which risk the language emphasises. A central banker can be dovish one year and hawkish the next without any inconsistency, because the balance of risks changes.

Why birds

The metaphor is old and rests on the obvious: hawks are predators, doves are the long-standing emblem of peace. The dove-as-peace association comes largely from the Genesis flood narrative, where a dove returns with an olive leaf — which is also why the olive branch means the same thing.

The related vocabulary

• Chickenhawk — a pejorative for someone who advocates war while having avoided service.
• Owlish — occasionally proposed for a third position: neither, and sceptical that either side can predict outcomes.