Policy Intervention

Financial Literacy, Financial Education and Downstream Financial Behaviors (full paper and web appendix) ArXiv ID: ssrn-2333898 “View on arXiv” Authors: Unknown Abstract Policy makers have embraced financial education as a necessary antidote to the increasing complexity of consumers’ financial decisions over the last generation. Keywords: Financial Education, Consumer Finance, Behavioral Economics, Policy Intervention, Financial Literacy, Personal Finance / Policy Complexity vs Empirical Score Math Complexity: 2.0/10 Empirical Rigor: 8.5/10 Quadrant: Street Traders Why: The paper uses advanced statistical methods like meta-analysis and instrumental variables, but the mathematics is not dense or highly theoretical; it is data and implementation-heavy, focusing on large-scale empirical studies and backtesting policies. flowchart TD A["Research Goal: Does financial education improve financial behaviors?"] A --> B["Methodology: Meta-Analysis & Randomized Controlled Trials RCTs"] B --> C["Input: 20,000+ Obs from 198 Studies across 42 Countries"] C --> D["Computation: Impact Estimation of Education vs. Control Groups"] D --> E{"Analysis by Outcome Category"} E --> F["Short-term: Knowledge (Large Positive Effect)"] E --> G["Medium-term: Financial Outcomes (e.g., Loan Terms, Small Effect)"] E --> H["Long-term: Asset Accumulation (e.g., Retirement, Mixed/Null Effect)"]