IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iso/educat/0240.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Multiple Pathways to Financial Literacy: Evidence on the Impact of Practical Applications of Financial Tasks and Analytical Learning

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Brunner
  • Maddalena Davoli
  • Uschi Backes-Gellner

Abstract

Financial literacy has become increasingly important for financial well-being. While studies show that formal schooling and its analytical learning methods enhances financial literacy, little is known about whether and, if so, how the practical applications in vocational education, contribute to it. We examine whether financial literacy differs across vocational occupation clusters with different requirements, practical applications or learning pathways, and what factors might explain such differences. Our results show two effective pathways to acquiring financial literacy: (1) analytical learning of financial concepts and (2) repeated practical applications of financial and economic concepts in everyday occupational tasks. Both demonstrate the important role that vocational education can play in fostering financial literacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Brunner & Maddalena Davoli & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2025. "Multiple Pathways to Financial Literacy: Evidence on the Impact of Practical Applications of Financial Tasks and Analytical Learning," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0240, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
  • Handle: RePEc:iso:educat:0240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.business.uzh.ch/RePEc/iso/leadinghouse/0240_lhwpaper.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabienne Kiener & Ann-Sophie Gnehm & Simon Clematide & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2019. "IT skills in vocational training curricula and labour market outcomes," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0159, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW), revised Sep 2022.
    2. Miriam Grønning & Irene Kriesi, 2022. "Skill Endowment Through Vocational Education and Training Programmes and Early Career Mobility," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 115-128.
    3. Atkinson, Adele & Messy, Flore-Anne, 2011. "Assessing financial literacy in 12 countries: an OECD/INFE international pilot exercise," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 657-665, October.
    4. Bernheim, B. Douglas & Garrett, Daniel M. & Maki, Dean M., 2001. "Education and saving:: The long-term effects of high school financial curriculum mandates," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 435-465, June.
    5. Oswald, Yvonne & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2014. "Learning for a bonus: How financial incentives interact with preferences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 52-61.
    6. Alexandra Brown & J. Michael Collins & Maximilian D. Schmeiser & Carly Urban, 2014. "State Mandated Financial Education and the Credit Behavior of Young Adults," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2014-68, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    7. Christelis, Dimitris & Jappelli, Tullio & Padula, Mario, 2010. "Cognitive abilities and portfolio choice," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 18-38, January.
    8. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    9. Leora Klapper & Annamaria Lusardi, 2020. "Financial literacy and financial resilience: Evidence from around the world," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 49(3), pages 589-614, September.
    10. Eggenberger, Christian & Rinawi, Miriam & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2018. "Occupational specificity: A new measurement based on training curricula and its effect on labor market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 97-107.
    11. Miriam Grønning & Irene Kriesi, 2022. "Skill Endowment Through Vocational Education and Training Programmes and Early Career Mobility," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 115-128.
    12. Adele Atkinson & Flore-Anne Messy, 2011. "Assessing financial literacy in 12 countries: an OECD Pilot Exercise," CeRP Working Papers 115, Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy).
    13. Aepli, Manuel & Kuhn, Andreas & Schweri, Jürg, 2021. "Culture, norms, and the provision of training by employers: Evidence from the Swiss language border," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Jia & Jiang, Jiajun & Liu, Yu-jane, 2018. "Financial literacy and gender difference in loan performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 307-320.
    2. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-44, March.
    3. Azra Zaimovic & Anes Torlakovic & Almira Arnaut-Berilo & Tarik Zaimovic & Lejla Dedovic & Minela Nuhic Meskovic, 2023. "Mapping Financial Literacy: A Systematic Literature Review of Determinants and Recent Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-30, June.
    4. Daniel Levy & Avichai Snir, 2022. "Potterian economics," Oxford Open Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 1, pages 1-32.
    5. Andrej Cupák & Pirmin Fessler & Maria Silgoner & Elisabeth Ulbrich, 2021. "Exploring Differences in Financial Literacy Across Countries: The Role of Individual Characteristics and Institutions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 409-438, December.
    6. Davoli, Maddalena & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2021. "Preferences, Financial Literacy, and Economic Development," IZA Discussion Papers 14759, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Azwadi Ali & Mohd Rahman & Alif Bakar, 2015. "Financial Satisfaction and the Influence of Financial Literacy in Malaysia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 137-156, January.
    8. Lusardi, Annamaria & Kaiser, Tim, 2024. "Financial literacy and financial education: An overview," CEPR Discussion Papers 19185, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Iwa Kuchciak & Justyna Wiktorowicz, 2021. "Empowering Financial Education by Banks—Social Media as a Modern Channel," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-22, March.
    10. Zuzana Brokesova & Andrej Cupak & Gueorgui Kolev, 2017. "Financial literacy and voluntary savings for retirement in Slovakia," Working and Discussion Papers WP 10/2017, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    11. José J. Cao‐Alvira & Amalia Novoa‐Hoyos & Alexander Núñez‐Torres, 2021. "On the financial literacy, indebtedness, and wealth of Colombian households," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 978-993, May.
    12. Davoli, Maddalena & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2020. "Culture and adult financial literacy: Evidence from the United States," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Isha Bajaj & Mandeep Kaur, 2024. "Validating Financial Knowledge Scale Using Item Response Theory," Vision, , vol. 28(2), pages 225-236, April.
    14. Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2021. "Insights into the Economic Benefits of VPET for Individuals: Theoretical and Empirical Results for Researchers and Practitioners," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0180, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    15. Kumari D.A.T, 2020. "The Impact of Financial Literacy on Investment Decisions: With Special Reference to Undergraduates in Western Province, Sri Lanka," Asian Journal of Contemporary Education, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 4(2), pages 110-126, December.
    16. John Y. Campbell, 2016. "Restoring Rational Choice: The Challenge of Consumer Financial Regulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 1-30, May.
    17. repec:osf:osfxxx:fqmdu_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2007. "Financial literacy and retirement planning: New evidence from the Rand American Life Panel," CFS Working Paper Series 2007/33, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    19. Patricia Palffy & Patrick Lehnert & Uschi Backes‐Gellner, 2023. "Social norms and gendered occupational choices of men and women: Time to turn the tide?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 380-410, October.
    20. van Rooij, Maarten C.J. & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob J.M., 2011. "Financial literacy and retirement planning in the Netherlands," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 593-608, August.
    21. Marco Nieddu & Lorenzo Pandolfi, 2018. "Cutting Through the Fog: Financial Literacy and the Subjective Value of Financial Assets," CSEF Working Papers 497, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial Literacy; Vocational Education and Training; Human Capital Formation; Skill Acquisition; Occupational Heterogeneity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iso:educat:0240. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sara Brunner (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/isuzhch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.