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on Financial Literacy and Education |
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Issue of 2026–05–04
five papers chosen by Viviana Di Giovinazzo, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca |
| By: | Nidhaleddine Ben Cheikh; Christophe Rault |
| Abstract: | Using a sample of 67 countries, this article examines how financial inclusion, among other factors, shapes the transition to inclusive and sustainable growth. First, we analyze the heterogeneous and asymmetric relationship between inclusiveness and its main determinants using recent panel quantile regression techniques. Our results suggest that the distributional effects of financial inclusion, institutional quality, and information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion are statistically significant only in the lower tail of the conditional distribution. Although both financial inclusion and ICT diffusion are detrimental to inclusive growth, institutional quality is conducive to greater shared prosperity. Next, we examine the existence of a mediating effect in the process of inclusiveness using non-linear panel threshold modelling. Our results highlight the mediating role of financial inclusion in achieving more inclusive and sustainable growth. While ICT infrastructure negatively impacts growth inclusiveness at low financial inclusion levels, a positive relationship is observed when financial affordability exceeds a certain threshold. Policymakers are called upon to harness the combined impacts of financial inclusion, governance quality, and ICTs to ensure inclusive economic growth. |
| Keywords: | inclusive growth, financial inclusion, non-linear panel data modelling |
| JEL: | C23 O11 O16 O43 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12615 |
| By: | Tabea Bucher-Koenen (University of Mannheim); Pirmin Fessler (Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Economic Analysis Division); Maria Antoinette Silgoner (Oesterreichische Nationalbank) |
| Abstract: | Household financial resilience is related to the availability of financial resources but also to the ability to anticipate and assess future situations and prepare for them accordingly. Overplacement describes the tendency of individuals to rate themselves better than others, i.e. they believe that their own chances of experiencing a negative (positive) event are lower (higher) than those of others. In a randomized survey experiment we asses households’ perceptions of specific risks, which could affect the future financial situation of their own household (treatment) or of a household with similar characteristics (control). On average, households assign lower probabilities to shocks that negatively affect personal finances if asked for their own household compared to a similar household – confirming overplacement bias in the context of financial risks. We do not find the reverse effect for positive shocks. The treatment effect is stronger among households with lower financial literacy, indicating that financial literacy is relevant for the ability to assess future financial shocks. |
| Keywords: | expectations, beliefs, financial behavior, overconfidence, financial resilience |
| JEL: | D14 D91 G53 |
| Date: | 2024–10–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:onb:oenbwp:259 |
| By: | Sandra Mauser (Oesterreichische Nationalbank); Valentin Voith (Oesterreichische Nationalbank) |
| Abstract: | Economic uncertainty has increased globally in the previous years, affecting households and individuals in their financial lives. Policymaking bodies are confronted with the task to stem the loss of prosperity and providing help to financially vulnerable people. Empirical research uses various approaches to conceptualize financial vulnerability, whereby the respective assumptions yield important implications for derived policy measures. In this paper, a theoretical framework will be elaborated such that existing research can be interpreted and made comparable on common grounds. We understand financial vulnerability, which we define as the likelihood to fall into financial hardship, as a three-dimensional model, namely a function of (1) sensitivity, i.e., objective factors outside the immediate sphere of influence, (2) resilience, i.e., subjective capacities to cope with and to adapt to financial shocks, and (3) exposure, i.e., the probability to encounter a financial shock. With this conceptualization financial vulnerability due to structural societal inequalities can be distinguished from financial vulnerability due to unsound financial decision-making and, therefore, offers a clearer understanding of which policy measures are needed to support people in their financial lives. In this context, special emphasis is placed on the potential role of financial education. An empirical analysis using the Austrian dataset of the OECD/INFE Adult Financial Literacy Survey 2019 is included to demonstrate the applicability of our theoretical framework. |
| Keywords: | financial vulnerability, financial resilience, financial shocks, financial hardship, financial literacy |
| JEL: | D14 I32 G53 |
| Date: | 2024–12–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:onb:oenbwp:260 |
| By: | Ahmet Deryol |
| Abstract: | Firms may prefer to delay some loan payments while continuing to service others because of lender and loan characteristics. I explore the impact of bank-level and bank–firm-level indicators on the strategic delay behaviors of nonfinancial corporations. Three factors play a key role in their strategic delay decisions. First, strategic delay events occur more when the likelihood of obtaining additional and high-quality funding in the future is limited. Second, firms are more reluctant to delay payments of loans strategically that are easier to repay. Third, firms are more likely to delay payments when the anticipated cost of delaying is low. Importantly, as the financial literacy levels of firm owners increase, the likelihood of a strategic delay event decreases. |
| Keywords: | Strategic delay, Firm behavior, Credit risk |
| JEL: | G21 G32 G33 G53 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:2608 |
| By: | Denys Casiano (Banco Central de Reserva del Perú) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the causal effect of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru's (BCRP) Retail Payments Interoperability Strategy on payment instrument choice and household financial fragility in Peru. Interoperability connected previously segmented digital-wallet networks and payment rails, reducing compatibility and coordination frictions that limit the effective use of digital payments. I combine quarterly microdata from the National Household Survey (ENAHO, 2022–2024) with administrative information to build a predetermined district-level exposure measure based on the relative pre-rollout (December 2022) presence of institutions that become interoperable in each implementation phase. I exploit the staggered rollout and this territorial heterogeneity in a staggered-adoption difference-in-differences design following Callaway and Sant'Anna (2021), complemented with robustness checks and placebo tests. The results suggest a reallocation away from traditional instruments toward more digitized payment channels enabled by interoperability. In particular, I find a decline in cash use for everyday and recurring expenditures and a reduction in card use, alongside an increase in digital channel use (internet banking: +3.3 pp). In parallel, financial fragility falls by 2.3–2.4 pp, consistent with lower liquidity frictions and a greater ability to smooth shocks through timely transfers. The evidence is consistent with a technology channel, as more exposed districts experience a 7.5–7.9 pp increase in the probability of having prepaid mobile internet, in line with households acquiring the minimum connectivity needed to operate mobile payments. Effects concentrate in districts with higher pre-treatment connectivity, human capital, and formality, indicating that interoperability can accelerate the transition away from cash, although its reach remains constrained by persistent structural barriers. |
| Keywords: | Payment systems; interoperability; digital wallets; demand for cash; retail payments; household finance; mobile internet; network externalities. |
| JEL: | D14 D83 E41 E42 G21 L86 O33 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rbp:wpaper:dt-2026-010 |