IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rco/dpaper/240.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Financial Education Affects Financial Knowledge and Downstream Behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Kaiser, Tim

    (University of Koblenz-Landau & DIW Berlin)

  • Lusardi, Annamaria

    (George Washington University)

  • Menkhoff, Lukas

    (HU & DIW Berlin)

  • Urban, Carly

    (Montana State University)

Abstract

We study the rapidly growing literature on the causal effects of financial education programs in a meta-analysis of 76 randomized experiments with a total sample size of over 160,000 individuals. The evidence shows that financial education programs have, on average, positive causal treatment effects on financial knowledge and downstream financial behaviors. Treatment effects are economically meaningful in size, similar to those realized by educational interventions in other domains and are at least three times as large as the average effect documented in earlier work. These results are robust to the method used, restricting the sample to papers published in top economics journals, including only studies with adequate power, and accounting for publication selection bias in the literature. We conclude with a discussion of the cost-effectiveness of financial education interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaiser, Tim & Lusardi, Annamaria & Menkhoff, Lukas & Urban, Carly, 2020. "Financial Education Affects Financial Knowledge and Downstream Behaviors," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 240, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
  • Handle: RePEc:rco:dpaper:240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://rationality-and-competition.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/240.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Fernandes & John G. Lynch & Richard G. Netemeyer, 2014. "Financial Literacy, Financial Education, and Downstream Financial Behaviors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(8), pages 1861-1883, August.
    2. 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.
    3. Diether W. Beuermann & C. Kirabo Jackson, 2022. "The Short- and Long-Run Effects of Attending the Schools that Parents Prefer," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(3), pages 725-746.
    4. Seshan, Ganesh & Yang, Dean, 2014. "Motivating migrants: A field experiment on financial decision-making in transnational households," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 119-127.
    5. Tim Kaiser & Lukas Menkhoff, 2017. "Does Financial Education Impact Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior, and If So, When?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 31(3), pages 611-630.
    6. John Gibson & David McKenzie & Bilal Zia, 2014. "The Impact of Financial Literacy Training for Migrants," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 28(1), pages 130-161.
    7. Kaiser, Tim & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2020. "Financial education in schools: A meta-analysis of experimental studies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Abel Brodeur & Nikolai Cook & Anthony Heyes, 2020. "Methods Matter: p-Hacking and Publication Bias in Causal Analysis in Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(11), pages 3634-3660, November.
    9. Abel Brodeur & Mathias Lé & Marc Sangnier & Yanos Zylberberg, 2016. "Star Wars: The Empirics Strike Back," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 1-32, January.
    10. Shawn Cole & Thomas Sampson & Bilal Zia, 2011. "Prices or Knowledge? What Drives Demand for Financial Services in Emerging Markets?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(6), pages 1933-1967, December.
    11. Esther Duflo & Emmanuel Saez, 2003. "The Role of Information and Social Interactions in Retirement Plan Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 118(3), pages 815-842.
    12. Annamaria Lusardi & Pierre-Carl Michaud & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2017. "Optimal Financial Knowledge and Wealth Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(2), pages 431-477.
    13. Frisancho, Verónica, 2018. "The Impact of School-Based Financial Education on High School Students and their Teachers: Experimental Evidence from Peru," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8835, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. James J. Choi & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian, 2010. "Why Does the Law of One Price Fail? An Experiment on Index Mutual Funds," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(4), pages 1405-1432, April.
    15. Margaret Miller & Julia Reichelstein & Christian Salas & Bilal Zia, 2015. "Can You Help Someone Become Financially Capable? A Meta-Analysis of the Literature," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank Group, vol. 30(2), pages 220-246.
    16. Carpena, Fenella & Zia, Bilal, 2020. "The causal mechanism of financial education: Evidence from mediation analysis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 143-184.
    17. Taisuke Imai & Tom A Rutter & Colin F Camerer, 2021. "Meta-Analysis of Present-Bias Estimation using Convex Time Budgets," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(636), pages 1788-1814.
    18. Urban, Carly & Schmeiser, Maximilian & Collins, J. Michael & Brown, Alexandra, 2020. "The effects of high school personal financial education policies on financial behavior," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    19. 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.
    20. Isaiah Andrews & Maximilian Kasy, 2019. "Identification of and Correction for Publication Bias," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(8), pages 2766-2794, August.
    21. Rachael Meager, 2019. "Understanding the Average Impact of Microcredit Expansions: A Bayesian Hierarchical Analysis of Seven Randomized Experiments," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 57-91, January.
    22. Aussi Sayinzoga & Erwin H. Bulte & Robert Lensink, 2016. "Financial Literacy and Financial Behaviour: Experimental Evidence from Rural Rwanda," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(594), pages 1571-1599, August.
    23. John P. A. Ioannidis & T. D. Stanley & Hristos Doucouliagos, 2017. "The Power of Bias in Economics Research," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(605), pages 236-265, October.
    24. Gunhild Berg & Bilal Zia, 2017. "Harnessing Emotional Connections to Improve Financial Decisions: Evaluating the Impact of Financial Education in Mainstream Media," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(5), pages 1025-1055.
    25. Christiana Stoddard & Carly Urban, 2020. "The Effects of State‐Mandated Financial Education on College Financing Behaviors," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(4), pages 747-776, June.
    26. Xu, Lisa & Zia, Bilal, 2012. "Financial literacy around the world : an overview of the evidence with practical suggestions for the way forward," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6107, The World Bank.
    27. Flory, Jeffrey A., 2018. "Formal finance and informal safety nets of the poor: Evidence from a savings field experiment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 517-533.
    28. Meta Brown & John Grigsby & Wilbert van der Klaauw & Jaya Wen & Basit Zafar, 2016. "Financial Education and the Debt Behavior of the Young," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(9), pages 2490-2522.
    29. Annamaria Lusardi, 2019. "Financial literacy and the need for financial education: evidence and implications," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 155(1), pages 1-8, December.
    30. Shawn Cole & Anna Paulson & Gauri Kartini Shastry, 2016. "High School Curriculum and Financial Outcomes: The Impact of Mandated Personal Finance and Mathematics Courses," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(3), pages 656-698.
    31. Dale Belman & Paul Wolfson & Kritkorn Nawakitphaitoon, 2015. "Who Is Affected by the Minimum Wage?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 582-621, October.
    32. Margherita Calderone & Nathan Fiala & Florentina Mulaj & Santadarshan Sadhu & Leopold Sarr, 2018. "Financial Education and Savings Behavior: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment among Low-Income Clients of Branchless Banking in India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(4), pages 793-825.
    33. Melanie Lührmann & Marta Serra-Garcia & Joachim Winter, 2018. "The Impact of Financial Education on Adolescents' Intertemporal Choices," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 309-332, August.
    34. Roger M. Harbord & Julian P.T. Higgins, 2008. "Meta-regression in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(4), pages 493-519, December.
    35. Miriam Bruhn & Luciana de Souza Leão & Arianna Legovini & Rogelio Marchetti & Bilal Zia, 2016. "The Impact of High School Financial Education: Evidence from a Large-Scale Evaluation in Brazil," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 256-295, October.
    36. Beuermann, Diether & Jackson, C. Kirabo, 2018. "Do Parents Know Best?: The Short and Long-Run Effects of Attending The Schools that Parents Prefer," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 9083, Inter-American Development Bank.
    37. Justine S. Hastings & Brigitte C. Madrian & William L. Skimmyhorn, 2013. "Financial Literacy, Financial Education, and Economic Outcomes," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 347-373, May.
    38. Camerer, Colin & Dreber, Anna & Forsell, Eskil & Ho, Teck-Hua & Huber, Jurgen & Johannesson, Magnus & Kirchler, Michael & Almenberg, Johan & Altmejd, Adam & Chan, Taizan & Heikensten, Emma & Holzmeist, 2016. "Evaluating replicability of laboratory experiments in Economics," MPRA Paper 75461, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    39. Meager, Rachael, 2019. "Understanding the average impact of microcredit expansions: a Bayesian hierarchical analysis of seven randomized experiments," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 88190, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    40. Melody Harvey, 2019. "Impact of Financial Education Mandates on Younger Consumers' Use of Alternative Financial Services," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 731-769, September.
    41. Mangrum, Daniel, 2022. "Personal finance education mandates and student loan repayment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 1-26.
    42. 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.
    43. Doi, Yoko & McKenzie, David & Zia, Bilal, 2014. "Who you train matters: Identifying combined effects of financial education on migrant households," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 39-55.
    44. Roland G. Fryer, Jr, 2016. "The Production of Human Capital in Developed Countries: Evidence from 196 Randomized Field Experiments," NBER Working Papers 22130, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    45. T. D. Stanley, 2001. "Wheat from Chaff: Meta-analysis as Quantitative Literature Review," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 131-150, Summer.
    46. Evans,David & Yuan,Fei, 2019. "Equivalent Years of Schooling : A Metric to Communicate Learning Gains in Concrete Terms," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8752, The World Bank.
    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. Tim Kaiser & Lukas Menkhoff, 2017. "Does Financial Education Impact Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior, and If So, When?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 31(3), pages 611-630.
    2. Tim Kaiser & Lukas Menkhoff, 2018. "Active Learning Fosters Financial Behavior: Experimental Evidence," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1743, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    3. 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).
    4. Kaiser, Tim & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2020. "Financial education in schools: A meta-analysis of experimental studies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Kaiser, Tim & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2018. "Active Learning Improves Financial Education:," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 131, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    6. Kaiser, Tim & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2022. "Active learning improves financial education: Experimental evidence from Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    7. Entorf, Horst & Hou, Jia, 2018. "Financial education for the disadvantaged? A review," SAFE Working Paper Series 205, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    8. Nicole Jonker & Anneke Kosse, 2020. "The interplay of financial education, financial literacy, financial inclusion and financial, stability: Any lessons for the current Big Tech era?," Working Papers 692, DNB.
    9. Nicole Jonker & Anneke Kosse, 2022. "The interplay of financial education, financial inclusion and financial stability and the role of Big Tech," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 612-635, October.
    10. Manuel Salas‐Velasco & Dolores Moreno‐Herrero & José Sánchez‐Campillo, 2021. "Teaching financial education in schools and students' financial literacy: A cross‐country analysis with PISA data," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 4077-4103, July.
    11. Fenella Carpena & Shawn Cole & Jeremy Shapiro & Bilal Zia, 2019. "The ABCs of Financial Education: Experimental Evidence on Attitudes, Behavior, and Cognitive Biases," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(1), pages 346-369, January.
    12. Harvey, Melody & Urban, Carly, 2023. "Does financial education affect retirement savings?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    13. Sholevar, Maryam & Harris, Laurence, 2019. "Mind the gap: A discussion paper on Financial Literacy, Financial behaviour and Financial Education : Is there any Gender Gap?," OSF Preprints b7zd6, Center for Open Science.
    14. Isler, Ozan & Rojas, Andres & Dulleck, Uwe, 2022. "Easy to shove, difficult to show: Effect of educative and default nudges on financial self-management," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    15. Margaret Miller & Julia Reichelstein & Christian Salas & Bilal Zia, 2015. "Can You Help Someone Become Financially Capable? A Meta-Analysis of the Literature," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank Group, vol. 30(2), pages 220-246.
    16. 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.
    17. Carpena, Fenella & Zia, Bilal, 2020. "The causal mechanism of financial education: Evidence from mediation analysis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 143-184.
    18. Lührmann, Melanie & Serra-Garcia, Marta & Winter, Joachim, 2015. "Teaching teenagers in finance: Does it work?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 160-174.
    19. Matthias Sutter & Michael Weyland & Anna Untertrifaller & Manuel Froitzheim & Sebastian O. Schneider, 2020. "Financial literacy, risk and time preferences – Results from a randomized educational intervention," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2023_03, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    20. Kaiser, Tim & Oberrauch, Luis, 2021. "Economic education at the expense of indoctrination? Evidence from Germany," EconStor Preprints 245801, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    financial education; financial literacy; financial behavior; RCT; meta-analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G53 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Financial Literacy
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

    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:rco:dpaper:240. 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: Viviana Lalli (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rationality-and-competition.de .

    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.