Making sure the penny drops - An evaluation of implementation strategies intended to enhance the effectiveness of financial literacy education.

Financial literacy is considered an important twenty-first century life skill, as the ability to make well-informed financial decisions decreases financial fragility of both individual households and society at large. Since a large share of the adults worldwide are financially illiterate, governments are increasingly providing both school-based and non-school based financial literacy education. However, financial literacy education programmes tend to impact the financial knowledge of individuals to a larger extent than their financial behaviours. This is disadvantageous, as financial well-being is mainly determined by financial behaviour. Therefore, these findings raise the question of how the effectiveness of financial literacy education could be improved. In my PhD I aim to find an answer to this question by evaluating two implementation strategies for financial literacy education. The first implementation strategy evaluated concerns the effectiveness of teacher professional development (TPD) initiatives. Although competent teachers are considered essential in the impact of financial literacy education on student outcomes, it has been shown that the majority of teachers lack the capabilities that are required to teach financial topics effectively. Therefore, I examine whether increasing teacher quality through TPD could enhance the effectiveness of financial literacy education. The second implementation strategy is based on insights from behavioural economics, in which it is recognised that the decision-making process is influenced by psychological factors such as cognitive biases. The effectiveness of financial literacy education— especially in terms of financial behaviours— may benefit from efforts that raise individuals' awareness of the non-rational factors influencing decision-making. Therefore, I evaluate to what extent an intervention that enhances awareness of cognitive biases, and herding bias in specific, influences financial decisions. I use multiple empirical methods— ranging from large-scale randomized controlled trials to case study research— to evaluate the two strategies.

Jaar van publicatie:2021

Toegankelijkheid:Open