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The Impact of High School Financial Education on Financial Knowledge and Choices: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Spain

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  • Bover, Olympia

    (Bank of Spain)

  • Hospido, Laura

    (Bank of Spain)

  • Villanueva, Ernesto

    (Bank of Spain)

Abstract

We conducted a randomized controlled trial where 3,000 9th grade students coming from 78 high schools received a financial education course at different points of the year. Right after the treatment, test performance increased by 16% of one standard deviation, treated youths were more likely to become involved in financial matters at home and showed more patience in hypothetical saving choices. In an incentivized saving task conducted three months after, treated students made more patient choices than a control group of 10th graders. Within randomization strata, the main impacts are also statistically significant in public schools, which over-represent disadvantaged students.

Suggested Citation

  • Bover, Olympia & Hospido, Laura & Villanueva, Ernesto, 2018. "The Impact of High School Financial Education on Financial Knowledge and Choices: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 11265, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11265
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kaiser, Tim & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2020. "Financial education in schools: A meta-analysis of experimental studies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Luis Oberrauch & Tim Kaiser, 2020. "Financial Literacy and Intertemporal Arbitrage," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1912, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Andrej Cupak & Pirmin Fessler & Maria Antoinette Silgoner & Elisabeth Ulbrich, 2018. "Financial literacy in Austria: a survey of recent research results," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1/18, pages 14-26.
    4. Kaiser, Tim & Oberrauch, Luis, 2021. "Economic education at the expense of indoctrination? Evidence from Germany," EconStor Preprints 245801, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    5. Borraz, Fernando & Caro, Ana & Caño-Guiral, Maira & Roa, María José, 2021. "Financial education for youth: A randomized evaluation in Uruguay," GLO Discussion Paper Series 881, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Francisco Gomes & Michael Haliassos & Tarun Ramadorai, 2021. "Household Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 919-1000, September.
    7. Iterbeke, Kaat & De Witte, Kristof & Declercq, Koen & Schelfhout, Wouter, 2020. "The effect of ability matching and differentiated instruction in financial literacy education. Evidence from two randomised control trials," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Oberrauch, Luis & Kaiser, Tim, 2022. "Cognitive ability, financial literacy, and narrow bracketing in time-preference elicitation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    9. Frisancho, Veronica & Herrera, Alejandro & Prina, Silvia, 2023. "Can a mobile-app-based behavioral intervention teach financial skills to youth? Experimental evidence from a financial diaries study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 595-614.
    10. Maldonado, Joana Elisa & De Witte, Kristof, 2021. "The impact of information provision to parents: Experimental evidence on student outcomes," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    11. Frisancho, Veronica, 2020. "The impact of financial education for youth," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Joana Elisa Maldonado & Kristof De Witte & Koen Declercq, 2022. "The effects of parental involvement in homework: two randomised controlled trials in financial education," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1439-1464, March.
    13. Agasisti, Tommaso & Barucci, Emilio & Cannistrà, Marta & Marazzina, Daniele & Soncin, Mara, 2023. "Online or on-campus? Analysing the effects of financial education on student knowledge gain," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. De Beckker, Kenneth & De Witte, Kristof & Van Campenhout, Geert, 2021. "The effect of financial education on students’ consumer choices: Evidence from a randomized experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 962-976.
    15. Barua, Rashmi & Shastry, Gauri Kartini & Yang, Dean, 2020. "Financial education for female foreign domestic workers in Singapore," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    financial education; impact evaluation;

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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