Financial Education in Schools: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Studies

38 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2019

See all articles by Tim Kaiser

Tim Kaiser

University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Lukas Menkhoff

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Kiel Institute for the World Economy; German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)

Date Written: 2018

Abstract

We study the literature on school financial education programs for children and youth via a quantitative meta-analysis of 37 (quasi-) experiments. We find that financial education treatment has, on average, a significant and sizeable impact on financial knowledge (+0.25 SD), similar to educational interventions in other domains. Additionally, we document small but still significant effects on financial behaviors (+0.05 SD). These results are robust to restricting the sample to 18 randomized experiments and they hold irrespective of the meta-analytic method used. Metaregressions show the beneficial effect of more intensive treatments and smaller class size, albeit with decreasing marginal returns.

Keywords: financial education, financial literacy, financial behavior, meta-analysis

JEL Classification: I210, A210, D140

Suggested Citation

Kaiser, Tim and Menkhoff, Lukas, Financial Education in Schools: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Studies (2018). CESifo Working Paper No. 7395, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3338749 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3338749

Tim Kaiser (Contact Author)

University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU) ( email )

Kaiserslautern
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Lukas Menkhoff

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ( email )

Humboldt Universität
Unter den Linden 6
Berlin, 10099
Germany

Kiel Institute for the World Economy ( email )

P.O. Box 4309
Kiel, Schleswig-Hosltein D-24100
Germany

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) ( email )

Mohrenstraße 58
Berlin, 10117
Germany

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