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The Impact of Financial Education for Youth

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  • Frisancho, Verónica

Abstract

This paper evaluates if the excitement about school-based financial education is warranted. First, relying on recent experimental evidence, the paper takes stock of the impact of financial education programs aimed at reaching children and youth. Second, it complements existing studies by focusing on the potentially negative unintended effects of these programs. Relying on data from a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Peru, this paper investigates whether financial education programs have spillover effects on academic outcomes or if they widen initial inequalities due to heterogeneous treatment impacts. While delivery models that incorporate a mandatory course requirement yield large and robust impacts on financial literacy, voluntary after school programs yield meager effects. These gains do not come at the cost of pervasive effects on the probability to pass a grade. Moreover, the impact of school-based financial education seems to be very inclusive, as treatment effects tend to be uniform across different sub-samples.

Suggested Citation

  • Frisancho, Verónica, 2019. "The Impact of Financial Education for Youth," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 9809, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:9809
    DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0001791
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    18. Sule Alan & Seda Ertac, 2018. "Fostering Patience in the Classroom: Results from Randomized Educational Intervention," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(5), pages 1865-1911.
    19. Michael Batty & J. Michael Collins & Elizabeth Odders-White, 2015. "Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Financial Education on Elementary School Students' Knowledge, Behavior, and Attitudes," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 69-96, March.
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    21. Kjetil Bjorvatn & Alexander W. Cappelen & Linda Helgesson Sekei & Erik Ø. Sørensen & Bertil Tungodden, 2020. "Teaching Through Television: Experimental Evidence on Entrepreneurship Education in Tanzania," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(6), pages 2308-2325, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni Gallo & Alessia sconti, 2023. "Could financial education be a universal social policy? A simulation of potential influences on inequality levels," Center for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP) 0182, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    2. Sconti, Alessia, 2022. "Digital vs. in-person financial education: What works best for Generation Z?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 300-318.
    3. Lusardi, Annamaria & Bucher-Koenen, Tabea & Alessie, Rob & Van Rooij, Maarten, 2021. "Fearless Woman: Financial Literacy and Stock Market Participation," CEPR Discussion Papers 15913, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    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. Tim Kaiser & Luis Oberrauch & Günther Seeber, 2020. "Measuring economic competence of secondary school students in Germany," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3-4), pages 227-242, August.
    7. Maria Jose Roa & Sonia Di Giannatale & Alejandra Villegas & Jonathan Barboza, 2023. "Are women more financially vulnerable than men? A tale of missed economic opportunities from Latin America," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(6), November.
    8. Eberle, Mira & Oberrauch, Luis, 2023. "What a difference three years of economics education make: Evidence from lower stream schools in Germany," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 42(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. Morshadul Hasan & Thuhid Noor & Jiechao Gao & Muhammad Usman & Mohammad Zoynul Abedin, 2023. "Rural Consumers’ Financial Literacy and Access to FinTech Services," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 780-804, June.
    11. Luedtke, Allison Oldham & Urban, Carly, 2021. "Do High Schools Choose Financial Education Policies Based on Their Neighbors?," IZA Discussion Papers 14288, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    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. Morshadul Hasan & Thi Le & Ariful Hoque, 2021. "How does financial literacy impact on inclusive finance?," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial education; Youth; Randomized controlled trials; Treatment effects; Heterogeneous impacts;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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