This article provides a concise narrative overview of the rapidly growing empirical literature on financial literacy and financial education. We first discuss stylized facts on the demographic correlates of financial literacy. We next cover the evidence on the effects of financial literacy on financial behaviors and outcomes. Finally, we review the evidence on the causal effects of financial education programs focusing on randomized controlled trial evaluations. The article concludes with perspectives on future research priorities for both financial literacy and financial education.
Authors
- Acknowledgements & Disclosure
- We thank Luis Oberrauch for excellent research assistance and Allen N. Berger, Phil Molyneux, and John O.S. Wilson for helpful comments. All errors are our own. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3386/w32355
- Published in
- United States of America
