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on Financial Literacy and Education |
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Issue of 2025–10–13
four papers chosen by Viviana Di Giovinazzo, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca |
| By: | Spyridon Boikos (University of Macedonia, Greece); Theodore Panagiotidis (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, Greece); Georgios Voucharas (Liverpool Hope University, UK) |
| Abstract: | While significant progress has been made in exploring the importance of financial literacy, its impact on economic growth and financial development from a macroeconomic point of view, remains thinly understood. This paper provides fresh evidence on the relationship between financial literacy, financial development and economic growth. We utilise a novel dataset for 61 countries over the period 1999-2014 and employ a panel quantile regression model. We provide strong evidence that higher financial literacy levels lead to higher GDP per capita growth and the size of the impact is higher at lower quantiles of the conditional growth distribution. As financial development increases, its positive impact on economic growth diminishes, indicating an inverted U-shaped relationship. High levels of financial literacy mitigate the diminishing returns of financial development on GDP per capita growth by an average of 7.41%. Interestingly, in higher quantiles of the conditional growth distribution, the mitigating effect increases to 9.23%. |
| Keywords: | Financial Literacy, Financial Development, Economic Growth, Quantile Regression, Panel Data |
| JEL: | O16 O40 G10 G53 C21 C23 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:25-09 |
| By: | José Aurazo; Holti Banka; Guillermo Galicia; Nilima Ramteke; Vatsala Shreeti; Kiyotaka Tanaka |
| Abstract: | Fast payments are at the forefront of payments digitalisation globally. By enabling immediate availability of funds on a 24/7 basis, they offer the potential to enhance efficiency, promote financial inclusion, drive innovation and foster competition. Despite their growing adoption, key questions remain regarding the design of fast payments systems (FPS), particularly concerning pricing. Open issues around pricing of fast payments exist at three levels: between the FPS owner and participants (system level), among participants themselves (participant level) and finally between the participants and their customers (end user level). This paper provides a comprehensive overview of global practices in FPS pricing at these three levels. To relate these practices with the academic literature, particularly for the person-to-merchant (P2M) payments, we use a classical two-sided market model and analyse how different pricing schemes at the end user level might influence the volume of fast payments and overall social welfare. Our expository model shows that fast payment usage may be lower than socially optimal in many cases. Moreover, when all fees are zero, fast payments are unsustainable without external subsidies or alternative revenue streams for participants. |
| Keywords: | financial inclusion, digital payments, fast payments, interchange fee, pricing |
| JEL: | O3 E42 G28 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:1295 |
| By: | Jared Gars; Laura Prada; Egon Tripodi; Santiago Borda |
| Abstract: | A large share of the global workforce lacks access to employer-sponsored retirement plans. In Colombia, where labor informality is high, the government introduced the Beneficios Economicos Periodicos (BEPS) program to promote voluntary retirement savings. However, many enrollees fail to contribute regularly. We conduct a randomized controlled trial with 2, 819 BEPS users, assigning them to different planning and monthly reminder treatments, where reminders are tailored in their timing. We find that personalized reminders significantly increase both the frequency and amount of savings, with individuals who recognize their forgetfulness more likely to demand reminders. Our findings highlight the role of reminders tailored to individuals’ preferred timing in sustaining engagement in voluntary savings programs. |
| Keywords: | Retirement savings, personalized reminders, limited attention, financial inclusion |
| JEL: | D91 G41 O16 |
| Date: | 2025–09–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0073 |
| By: | Chaimaa Laamime, (École Nationale de Commerce et de Gestion (ENCG), Université Hassan II de Casablanca, Maroc); Karima Mialed (École Nationale de Commerce et de Gestion (ENCG), Université Hassan II de Casablanca, Maroc) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the impact of advanced financial technologies—artificial intelligence, predictive algorithms, intelligent trading platforms, and big data—on the decision-making processes of individual traders. Based on qualitative fieldwork with 30 Moroccan traders, the research shows that while digital tools can help reduce cognitive overload and emotional stress, they may also reinforce algorithmic overconfidence, excessive delegation of judgment, or illusions of control. The study highlights that the effects of these technologies are context-dependent, shaped by traders' techno-cognitive profiles, experience, and financial literacy. It contributes to behavioral finance by offering an integrated techno-behavioral perspective in the context of an emerging market. |
| Abstract: | L'émergence des solutions technologiques financières avancées notamment l'intelligence artificielle, les algorithmes prédictifs, les plateformes de trading intelligentes, le big data reconfigure en profondeur les pratiques décisionnelles des investisseurs et des traders en particulier dans les économies en mutation technologique. Ces dispositifs sont fréquemment présentés comme des catalyseurs de rationalité, toutefois, leur impact réel sur les biais comportementaux des traders individuels demeure controversé et ambigu. Cette étude propose une analyse critique de cette problématique à partir d'une étude qualitative conduite au Maroc, un marché émergent confronter à une adoption croissante des outils digitalisés et où les investisseurs et les traders individuels restent significativement influencés par des dimensions psychologiques, culturelles et émotionnelles. Cette étude est faite à travers des entretiens semidirectifs réalisés auprès des traders individuels marocains utilisant des plateformes mobilisant des technologies intelligentes, l'analyse met en lumière une tension permanente entre perception des gains de performance et persistance des biais. Certains outils technologiques contribuent à structurer et encadrer la prise de décision en limitant la surcharge émotionnelle, d'autres fonctionnalités technologiques tendent à engendrer une sur-confiance algorithmique, une délégation excessive du jugement ou encore une illusion de contrôle amplifiée. Ce travail s'inscrit dans une posture interprétativiste visant à comprendre les représentations des traders individuels à l'égard des technologies financières qu'ils mobilisent en s'appuyant sur des entretiens semi-directifs, analysés à partir d'un cadre ancré dans la subjectivité des auteurs, dans une logique de construction de sens. Cet article met en évidence que l'effet des technologies est contextuel dans la mesure où il dépend des représentations mentales, de l'expérience et du niveau de littératie financière des traders. L'étude apporte une contribution originale à l'approche de la finance comportementale en éclairant le rôle des technologies dans un environnement émergent comme le Maroc et en démontrant la nécessité d'une appropriation critique et réflexive des outils digitalisés dans les pratiques de trading. |
| Keywords: | Advanced technologies, Individual traders, Emerging markets, Artificial intelligence, Cognitive biases, Technologies avancées, Traders individuels, Biais cognitifs, Intelligence artificielle, Marché émergent |
| Date: | 2025–08–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05243730 |