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A randomized experiment among poor entrepreneurs tested the impact of exogenously inducing higher financial aspirations. In theory, raising aspirations could have positive effects by inducing higher effort, but could also reduce effort if unmet aspirations lead to frustration. Treatment resulted in more ambitious savings goals, but nearly all individuals fell far short of reaching these goals. Two years later, treated individuals had not saved more, and actually had lower borrowing and business investments. Treatment also reduced belief in the amount of control over one's life. Setting aspirations too high can lead to frustration, leading individuals to reduce their economic investments.

Access to Finance --- Aspirations --- Entrepreneurship --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Education --- Financial Literacy --- Microenterprises --- Private Sector Development --- Savings

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In a world where individuals become increasingly responsible for their financial well-being, and where the complexity of financial markets and products is growing, financial education becomes crucial. Although it is well accepted to introduce financial education in compulsory education, there is no consensus on the optimal way to implement financial education. This book explores the current state and the future challenges of financial education in five European countries: Belgium, Estonia, Italy, Slovakia, and the Netherlands. Moreover, it provides a comprehensive review of the academic literature on financial literacy. The book is a product of a strategic partnership with professionals from 14 partners, including universities, secondary schools and intermediary organisations dealing with financial literacy promotion. The EUFin project supported by this partnership aims to develop evidence-based didactical material for financial literacy education for tertiary and secondary education levels and exchange best-practices.

Finanzielle Bildung --- Education --- financial competencies --- financial education --- Estonia --- Italy --- Netherlands --- Belgium --- Flanders --- Slovak Republic --- school --- Interkulturelle und International Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft

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Studien, die sich mit financial literacy, der finanziellen Allgemeinbildung oder der Finanzkompetenz befassen, sind im Zuge der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise immer stärker in den Fokus der Öffentlichkeit gerückt. Denn nur auf Basis einer gut ausgebildeten financial literacy können reflektierte finanzielle Entscheidungen getroffen werden, die zur finanziellen Absicherung und zur Prävention gegen eine Überschuldung beitragen und damit zusätzlich die Volkswirtschaft stärken. Im Rahmen des gesellschaftlichen Bildungsauftrages müssen schon Schüler beim Erwerb und beim Aufbau einer Finanzkompetenz unterstützt und gefördert werden. Um als mündige Bürger kompetente finanzielle Entscheidungen treffen zu können und damit, kollektiv gesehen, auch zum gesellschaftlichen Gesamtnutzen beizutragen, müssen formelle und informelle Lernumgebungen betrachtet werden. In vielen schülerorientierten Studien erweist sich das Konstrukt financial literacy als unsystematisiert. Die vorliegende Dissertation befasst sich innerhalb eines ersten Schwerpunktes mit der Systematisierung eines ganzheitlichen Konstrukts financial literacy zur Messung der finanziellen Kompetenzen bei Schülern in Deutschland. Dazu wird der nationale und internationale Forschungsdiskurs analysiert, um auf Basis der bisherigen Erkenntnisse ein inhaltliches Gesamtkonzept zu erstellen. Das daraus entwickelte Messmodell, welches sowohl inhaltliche wie auch einstellungsbezogene Bereiche umfasst, wird im Rahmen der Financial Literacy Study (FILS) getestet. Das Gesamtkonstrukt wird mittels der erhobenen Daten durch die Methode der Strukturgleichungsmodellierung validiert. Daran anschließend werden die Kompetenzen der Schüler inhaltsabhängig analysiert, um Interventionen und mögliche informelle und formelle Lernprozesse zu identifizieren. Innerhalb dieses zweiten Schwerpunktes zeigt sich, dass die Schüler unterschiedlich stark ausgeprägte Kompetenzen in den einzelnen Inhaltsfeldern aufweisen. So sind beispielsweise Fähigkeiten in Bezug auf Sparen, die durch informelle Lernprozesse erklärt werden können, ausreichend vorhanden. Während die Fähigkeiten im Umgang mit Schulden, die wahrscheinlich weder formell noch informell vermittelt werden, sehr niedrig ausgeprägt sind. Zusätzlich können schulformspezifische Unterschiede dargestellt und mögliche spezifische Interventionen für das Bildungssystem abgeleitet werden, um dem Hauptziel, den Aufbau und die Förderung einer Finanzkompetenz bei Schülern, gerecht zu werden.

Youth --- Finance, Personal. --- Competency assessment. --- Financial literacy. --- General financial education. --- Informal and formal learning processes. --- Structural equation models.

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This paper exploits the emotional connections and viewer attentiveness of mainstream media to evaluate the economic impact of financial education messages on debt management delivered through a popular television soap opera in South Africa. The study uses a symmetric encouragement design to compare outcomes of individuals who were randomly assigned to watch a soap opera with financial messages, "Scandal!" to those of individuals who were invited to watch a similar soap opera without financial messages, "Muvhango." Both shows overlapped in evening primetime and had similar past viewership profiles. The financial storyline spanned two months and featured one of the leading characters of the show borrowing excessively and irresponsibly through hire-purchase, gambling, and ending up in financial distress; and eventually seeking help to find her way out. Two intermediate and one final follow-up surveys were conducted as part of the study. The analysis finds individuals assigned to watch Scandal had significantly higher financial knowledge of the issues highlighted in the soap opera storyline, in particular messages delivered by the leading character. On behavior, Scandal viewers were almost twice more likely to borrow from formal sources, less likely to engage in gambling, and less prone to enter hire purchase agreements. Messages promoting a national debt mediation helpline delivered by an external character did not sustain traction beyond immediate interest. Three qualitative focus groups highlight the importance of emotional connections with the leading character in motivating behavior change.

Access to Finance --- Banks & Banking Reform --- Debt Management --- Debt Markets --- Encouragement Design --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Education --- Financial Literacy --- Population Policies --- Private Sector Development --- Randomized Evaluation

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This paper presents a systematic and comprehensive meta-analysis of the literature on financial education interventions. The analysis focuses on financial education studies designed to strengthen the financial knowledge and behaviors of consumers. The analysis identifies 188 papers and articles that present impact results of interventions designed to increase consumers' financial knowledge (financial literacy) or skills, attitudes, and behaviors (financial capability). These papers are diverse across a number of dimensions, including objectives of the program intervention, expected outcomes, intensity and duration of the intervention, delivery channel used, and type of population targeted. However, there are a few key outcome indicators where a subset of papers are comparable, including those that address savings behavior, defaults on loans, and financial skills, such as record keeping. The results from the meta analysis indicate that financial literacy and capability interventions can have a positive impact in some areas (increasing savings and promoting financial skills such as record keeping) but not in others (credit default).

Access & Equity in Basic Education --- Access to Finance --- Capability Intervention --- Consumer Behaviors --- Curriculum & Instruction --- Education --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Capability --- Financial Education --- Financial Literacy --- Financial Skills --- Teaching and Learning