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

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