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on Financial Literacy and Education |
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Issue of 2026–05–18
four papers chosen by Viviana Di Giovinazzo, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca |
| By: | Kabir Dasgupta; Jennifer Fernandez; Alicia Lloro |
| Abstract: | This study examines financial challenges faced by justice-involved individuals using 2023-2024 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking data. Individuals with justice system contact experience substantially worse financial outcomes than those without criminal records, with disparities widening by severity of involvement. Compared to individuals with no prior records, those arrested but not convicted are 4 percentage points less likely to report doing at least okay financially, while formerly convicted as well as incarcerated adults are 15 percentage points less likely. Formerly incarcerated individuals are also 21 percentage points less likely to have credit scores above 660 and 13 percentage points less likely to have credit cards. These disparities mirror patterns observed across education levels, where adults with lower educational attainment experience lower financial well-being and inclusion. Our findings document substantial barriers to financial stability among justice-involved populations and may inform policies promoting financial inclusion and improving economic outcomes for this group. |
| Keywords: | consumer credit reports; consumer credit scoring; discrimination; economic inclusion |
| JEL: | K42 G50 I31 |
| Date: | 2026–05–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:103196 |
| By: | Bernhard Reinsberg |
| Abstract: | Since the Global Financial Crisis, money has been undergoing transformational changes. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the lesser-known stablecoins, powered by blockchain technology, have grown rapidly, allowing people to undertake financial transactions globally without central intermediaries. In addition, many countries have explored central bank digital currencies, which are digital representations of fiat monies controlled by national central banks. While descriptive studies on these money innovations abound, systematic analysis of their drivers is lacking. This paper offers the first systematic analysis of the conditions under which societies adopt these money innovations. Based on an original cross-country dataset capturing the extent to which money innovations have been deployed, regression analysis shows limited overlap in the significant drivers of these money innovations, aside from fundamental country characteristics including level of development, population size, and (to a lesser extent) regime type. Cryptocurrency use appears to be driven by macro-financial instability and lack of access to bank finance. In contrast, CBDC adoption by states appears to be driven by exposure to sanctions and previous experimentation with CBDC projects. While confirming the role of financial inclusion for cryptocurrency adoption, the findings partly challenge the official discourse of financial inclusion as a key motivation for CBDC adoption. |
| Keywords: | Digital money, cryptocurrency, central bank digital currency (CBDC), money innovations, cross-country analysis |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wpt202601 |
| By: | Gabriele Iannotta (Politecnico di Milano); Katharina Hartinger (Johannes Gutenberg University, Germany); Tommaso Agasisti (Politecnico di Milano) |
| Abstract: | The advent of commission-free trading apps has drawn millions of young, financially inexperienced users into capital markets, raising concerns about their preparedness to navigate behavioral pitfalls embedded in platform design. We evaluate two short and scalable simulation-based financial education interventions in a three-arm randomized experiment with 704 undergraduate students at an Italian university (488 completers). In both treatments, participants trade fictitious assets in an incentivized 20-round game that simulates a trading-app environment, accompanied by introductory educational content on core investment concepts. The augmented treatment additionally embeds short in-game pop-ups addressing behavioral pitfalls relevant to app-based trading, including diversification, overtrading, the disposition effect, availability bias, and herd behavior. Measured two weeks after the intervention, both treatments significantly increase financial knowledge relative to a no-intervention control group, with effect sizes of approximately 0.25-0.30 SD for the baseline Simulation and about 0.5 SD for the pop-up-augmented version. Both treatments also improve portfolio efficiency captured by a design-based Sharpe ratio computed from declared allocations, while the augmented treatment additionally increases realized in-game portfolio efficiency and revealed risk-taking during the incentivized simulation. By contrast, stated risk attitudes remain unchanged, indicating that the intervention improves how financial knowledge is translated into portfolio decisions rather than altering underlying risk preferences. |
| Keywords: | Financial education, Financial literacy, Trading apps, Portfolio efficiency, Learning-by-doing, Behavioral nudges, Randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | G53 G11 G41 C93 I21 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:2603 |
| By: | Mallett, Richard |
| Abstract: | this research note offers an introduction to and critique of contemporary vehicle financing in Uganda’s motorcycle-taxi (boda boda) industry. Informal workers in this sector have long accessed motorcycles through a daily rental-based system known as kibaluwa. however, over the past15 years a new wave of international asset financers have entered the fray, selling Ugandan moto-taxi riders the tantalising dream of ‘being your own boss’ through hire-purchase (or ‘ride-to-own’) credit schemes. Drawing on original interview- and survey-based data from the Ugandan capital, Kampala, this note drills through the glossy promotional material used to market these products to put forward a more grounded, worker-centred and critical perspective on what it means tobe and become a ‘financially included’ informal worker. It shows that despite delivering lucrative, if temporary, outcomes for riders once they have successfully completed hire-purchase, for the long duration of there payment schedule riders are exposed to new risks, new costs and new pressures. a clear conclusion is reached: for Uganda’s financially included moto-taxis, the powerful allure and rewarding experience of being one’s own boss is very different to the arduous process of becoming one. |
| Keywords: | financial inclusion; fintech; informal economy; motorcycle-taxis; boda boda; Uganda |
| JEL: | R14 J01 F3 G3 J1 |
| Date: | 2026–04–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137831 |