Financial Education on Secondary School Students: The Randomized Experiment Revisited

Becchetti, Leonardo; Pisani, Fabio

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2006115

Cited by 18 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…A couple of recent studies focus on the impact of different programs on knowledge (Walstad et al, 2010, Bechetti andPisani, 2012) or behavior on a virtual platform (Carlin and Robinson, 2012). An important contribution of our paper is that we measure knowledge and elicit behavior through a survey, and hence provide a more complete analysis of the impact of financial education.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching teenagers in finance: Does it work?

Lührmann

Serra-García

Winter³

2015

Journal of Banking & Finance

127

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Many initiatives worldwide aim at improving financial literacy through targeted education programs, yet there is little evidence regarding their effectiveness. We examine the impact of a short financial education program on teenagers in German high schools.Our findings reveal that the training program significantly increases teenagers' interest in financial matters and their financial knowledge, especially their ability to properly assess the riskiness of assets. Behaviorally, we observe a decrease in the prevalence of self-reported impulse purchases, but at the same time find no evidence of a significant increase in savings. Our data reveals strong gender differences already before adulthood: Girls show less interest in, and self-assessed knowledge of, financial matters, and are less likely to save.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching teenagers in finance: Does it work?

Lührmann

Serra-García

Winter³

2015

Journal of Banking & Finance

127

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“…Lührmann, Serra-Garcia, and Winter (2014) find that participation in financial education can increase time consistency among German high school students. Becchetti, Caiazza, and Coviello (2013) and Becchetti and Pisani (2012) evaluate a financial literacy program for high school students in…”

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confidence: 99%

The Impact of Financial Education for Youth in Ghana

2018

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“…Becchetti et al (2013) did not find a statistically significant effect of the treatment on financial literacy, while they claim a positive effect on hypothetical behaviors. However, a follow up study (Becchetti and Pisani 2012) points out that students could learn from repeating similar surveys. Lührmann et al (2012) get rid of the "survey" effect and find out a positive effect of the short training sessions on financial attitudes such as interest in financial matters and saving propensity.…”

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confidence: 99%

Financial Education, Literacy and Investment Attitudes

et al. 2015

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A large and growing literature documents that a large fraction of the population lacks of the basic skills to make sound financial decisions. This evidence has prompted a number of financial education initiatives around the world. These initiatives often take the form of education programs, but are rarely designed to be evaluated. A first urgent question is whether financial education is actually effective in enhancing the level of financial literacy.Using an evaluation design, our experiment studies the effect of financial education on financial literacy, investment attitudes and on how individuals perceive their level of financial literacy. To remove the effect of potentially important confounders, we run the same experiment in the field and in the laboratory.Our evidence shows a non-negligible effect on financial literacy and investment attitude, but an even larger effect on the degree of self-assessed financial literacy in the population of university students. The exercise thus uncovers an interesting pattern: financial education seems to improve more what individuals think to know than what individuals actually know.The results suggest that, while being able to increase financial literacy, financial education programs can also cause individuals to become more confident in their abilities without actually being more equipped to face financial decisions. Our results imply an important warning on the effectiveness of financial education initiatives. The increase in self-confidence seems to be a necessary by-product of financial education. An extremely polluting by-product, if the increase in self-confidence is not matched by the improvement in actual skills. Financial education, literacy and investment attitudesAbstract Based on a sample of university students, we provide field and laboratory evidence that a small scale training intervention has a both statistically and economically significant effect on subjective and objective assessments of financial knowledge. We also show that for a large part of students whose self-assessed financial knowledge has improved we do not find an increase in their actual skills.

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Financial Education on Secondary School Students: The Randomized Experiment Revisited

Cited by 18 publications

References 6 publications

Teaching teenagers in finance: Does it work?

Teaching teenagers in finance: Does it work?

The Impact of Financial Education for Youth in Ghana

Financial Education, Literacy and Investment Attitudes

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