nep-fle New Economics Papers
on Financial Literacy and Education
Issue of 2022‒12‒05
five papers chosen by



  1. Disparities in financial literacy, pension planning, and saving behavior By Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Hackethal, Andreas; Kasinger, Johannes; Laudenbach, Christine
  2. Household welfare in the digital age: Assessing the effect of mobile money on household consumption volatility in developing countries By Ablam Estel Apeti
  3. BMF Collaborative Project 5: Mindsponge-based investigation into households’ financial resilience during the Covid-19 crisis By Mindsponge, AISDL
  4. Mindsponge-based reasoning of households’ financial resilience during the Covid-19 crisis By Vuong, Quan-Hoang; Khuc, Quy Van; La, Viet-Phuong; Le, Tam-Tri; Quang-Loc, Nguyen; Nguyen, Phuong-Tri; Nguyen, Minh-Hoang
  5. Violence and financial decisions: evidence from mobile money in Afghanistan By Blumenstock, Joshua; Callen, Mike; Ghani, Tarek; González, Roberto

  1. By: Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Hackethal, Andreas; Kasinger, Johannes; Laudenbach, Christine
    Abstract: Financial literacy affects wealth accumulation, and pension planning plays a key role in this relationship. In a large field experiment, we employ a digital pension aggregation tool to confront a treatment group with a simplified overview of their current pension claims across all pillars of the pension system. We combine survey and administrative bank data to measure the effects on actual saving behavior. Access to the tool decreases pension uncertainty for treated individuals. Average savings increase-especially for the financially less literate. We conclude that simplification of pension information can potentially reduce disparities in pension planning and savings behavior.
    Keywords: saving behavior,retirement planning,digital planning tool
    JEL: D14 G11 G51 G53
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:362&r=fle
  2. By: Ablam Estel Apeti (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne)
    Abstract: Based on a sample of 76 developing countries over 1990-2019, we assess the effect of adopting mobile money on consumption volatility using entropy balancing. We reveal that countries with mobile money exhibit lower consumption volatility. After checking the robustness of this result, we show that the key drivers of mobile money's stabilizing effect are financial inclusion and migrant remittances. Heterogeneity tests conducted indicate the sensitivity of the result to time and type of mobile money and to some structural factors, including trade openness, inflation, rural population, the rule of law, and level of development.
    Keywords: Mobile money,entropy balancing,consumption volatility,developing countries
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03819779&r=fle
  3. By: Mindsponge, AISDL
    Abstract: The AISDL team discloses the pre-peer-reviewed results of a research project exploring the effects of financial literacy and accessibility to financial information on the financial resilience of Vietnamese households through the lens of an information-processing perspective. The research project was contributed by seven authors. The project’s outcome has been sent to the academic journal for peer review. The preprint of the research outcome can be found at the following URL: https://osf.io/3uega/
    Date: 2022–10–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:qsdf4&r=fle
  4. By: Vuong, Quan-Hoang; Khuc, Quy Van; La, Viet-Phuong; Le, Tam-Tri; Quang-Loc, Nguyen; Nguyen, Phuong-Tri; Nguyen, Minh-Hoang
    Abstract: The Covid-19 crisis was remarkable because no global recession model could predict or provide early notice of when the coronavirus pandemic would happen and damage the global economy. Resilience to financial shocks is crucial for households as future crises like Covid-19 are inevitable. Therefore, the current study aims to the effects of financial literacy and accessibility to financial information on the financial resilience of Vietnamese households through the lens of an information-processing perspective. The Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics was employed on a dataset of 839 samples for the investigation. We found that households of respondents with better financial knowledge and investment skills are less likely to be financially affected during the peak of the Covid-19 crisis, but the effect of investment skills is weakly reliable. Accessibility to financial information through informal sources (having a household member working in the financial sector) and formal sources (participating in a financial course) is positively associated with the respondents’ financial knowledge and investment skills. This finding suggests that the spillover effect of financial knowledge and skills among residents exists, leading to better resilience toward financial shocks. However, if the financial information is inaccurate, it might lead to misinformation, false beliefs, and poor economic decisions on a large scale.
    Date: 2022–10–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:3uega&r=fle
  5. By: Blumenstock, Joshua; Callen, Mike; Ghani, Tarek; González, Roberto
    Abstract: We provide evidence that violence reduces the adoption and use of mobile money in three separate empirical settings in Afghanistan. First, we spatially merge nationwide administrative data on 96,000 violent events with the universe of mobile money transactions and find that users exposed to nearby violence reduce their mobile money account balances and conduct fewer transactions. Second, using high-frequency panel survey data from a field experiment, we find that subjects expecting violence are half as likely to respond to a randomized mobile money supply shock as those not expecting violence. Finally, analyzing financial survey data from nineteen of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, we find that individuals expecting violence hold more cash. Collectively, our evidence suggests that violence can impede the growth of formal financial systems.
    Keywords: violence; financial development; mobile money
    JEL: O17 O33 D14
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:117303&r=fle

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