January 2018

Nudging Financial and Demographic Literacy: Experimental Evidence from an Italian Trade Union Pension Fund

By Francesco C. Billari (Bocconi University - Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management), Carlo A. Favero (Bocconi University - Department of Finance; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)) & Francesco Saita (Bocconi University - Department of Finance) In this article, we present and test experimentally a low-cost, Internet-based, financial literacy program that we designed for implementation with the largest industrial pension fund in Italy. The program, Finlife (Financial Education and Planning for a Long Life) included 1) an instructional...

Addressing Financial Illiteracy Through Financial Innovation: The Case for Goal-Specific Bonds the Embed Inflation and Compounding

By Arun Muralidhar (AlphaEngine Global Investment Solutions; George Washington University) Financial illiteracy is widespread and leads to bad financial decisions (high debt, insufficient savings). Individuals cannot answer basic questions about inflation, compounding, and diversification. While financial literacy can be enhanced, are individuals teachable, and if so, what should they be taught and how lasting is the training? Prof. Merton suggests that some individuals can only be helped with innovation; Prof. Richard Thaler has argued for making the financial system more...

December 2017

The Household Savings Paradox

By Tobias Meyll (University of Giessen - Department of Financial Services), Thomas Pauls (Goethe University Frankfurt) & Andreas Walter (University of Giessen - Department of Financial Service) Using representative data from Germany, we reveal that more than 27.3% of the population not only restrains from participating in the stock market but also refuse to invest in contractual savings and retirement products. In fact, we find that these households rely on deposits only - an investment strategy usually related to negligible...

Investigating the Level of Financial Literacy of University Students

By Israel J. dos S. Felipe Sr. (Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP)), Harrison Bachion Ceribeli Sr.( Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP)) & Lana, T. Q. (Energisa) Considering that the quality of financial decisions taken by individuals depends on their financial knowledge, abilities and attitudes, it is possible to state that the well-being of a population depends on how financially literate it is. In this context, the aim of this study was to measure the financial literacy level of...

Comparison of Psychosocial Factors Affecting the Demands for Pension Plans Between American and Chinese Residents

By Ruiqi Tian (Southwest Jiao Tong University - Psychological Research and Counseling Center) & Ruilin Tian (North Dakota State University - Department of Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems) Pension becomes more and more important as people are living longer and pursuing higher living quality after retirement. This paper is to analyze the psychosocial factors that affect people’s pension demands in the US as well as in China. As two representative countries that have different pension systems, cultures, value systems, family...

The Facts of Women’s Labor Behavior in the Field of Education

By Spankulova Seitkazievna (Narxoz University) In the article the labor behavior of women in education in post-Soviet countries is analyzed. model of employment of women (men as well), which was formed in Soviet years, has not undergone significant changes during the years of economic reforms. Expanding the accessibility of formal social security programs to the elderly has changed the behavior of this population in the labor market. Women do not receive social old-age pensions in the same amount as men,...

The Facts of Women's Labor Behavior in the Field of Education

By Spankulova Seitkazievna (Narxoz University) In the article the labor behavior of women in education in post-Soviet countries is analyzed. model of employment of women (men as well), which was formed in Soviet years, has not undergone significant changes during the years of economic reforms. Expanding the accessibility of formal social security programs to the elderly has changed the behavior of this population in the labor market. Women do not receive social old-age pensions in the same amount as men,...

November 2017

Finance-Informed Citizens, Citizen-Informed Finance: An Essay Occasioned by the International Handbook of Financial Literacy

By Lauren E. Willis (Loyola Law School Los Angeles) Throughout the world, the dominant discourse treats “financial literacy” as both necessary and sufficient to improve the well-being of individuals and society. This essay argues that financial literacy is neither, and that promoting financial literacy is a perverse way to address the inadequate retirement funding, overindebtedness, financial crises, and other social ills that have inspired governments and educators to pursue it. In its place, this essay suggests that the aim of...

Alternative Measures of Non-Cognitive Skills and Their Effect on Retirement Preparation and Financial Capability

By Gema Zamarro (University of Arkansas) Social science, more than ever, is drawing upon the insights of personality psychology. Though researchers now know that non-cognitive skills and personality traits, such as conscientiousness, grit, self-control, or a growth mindset could be important for life outcomes, they struggle to find reliable measures of these skills. Self-reports are often used for analysis but these measures have been found to be affected by important biases. We study the validity of innovative more robust measures...

Framing the Future: Using Investment and Assurance Frames to Encourage Retirement Information Search

By Wiebke Eberhardt, Elisabeth Brüggen (Maastricht University), Thomas Post (Netspar), Chantal Hoet (Aegon) Many pension plan participants are inactive. They do not look up information on their retirement income and discover pension gaps too late to take action. We analyze how pension communication framing interventions motivate participants to acquire retirement income information. First, we show that classical loss frames (vs. gain) are an effective intervention, but also evoke negative perceptions and evaluations. Second, we develop new frames (assurance, investment) tapping...