Finance for All: The Impact of Financial Literacy Training in Compulsory Secondary Education in Spain

52 Pages Posted: 4 Feb 2015

See all articles by Laura Hospido

Laura Hospido

Banco de España - Research Department

Ernesto Villanueva

Banco de España - Research Department

Gema Zamarro

University of Arkansas - Department of Education Reform; Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR)

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Date Written: February 3, 2015

Abstract

We estimate the impact on objective measures of financial literacy of a 10-hour financial education program among 15-year-old students in compulsory secondary schooling. We use a matched sample of students and teachers in Madrid and two different estimation strategies. Firstly, we use reweighting estimators to compare the performance in a test of financial knowledge of students in treatment and control schools. In another specification, we use school fixed-effect estimates of the effect of the course on changes in scores in tests of financial knowledge. The program increased treated students’ financial knowledge by between one-fourth and one-third of a standard deviation. We uncover heterogeneous effects, as students in private schools did not increase their knowledge much, possibly owing to a less intensive implementation of the program. Secondly, we analyze the bias that arises because the set of schools that participate in financial literacy programs is not random. Such selection bias is estimated as the pre-program performance in financial PISA of students in applicant schools relative to a nationally representative sample of schools. We then study whether estimators that condition on school and parental characteristics mitigate selection bias.

Keywords: financial education, impact evaluation, selection bias

JEL Classification: D14, I22

Suggested Citation

Hospido, Laura and Villanueva, Ernesto and Zamarro, Gema, Finance for All: The Impact of Financial Literacy Training in Compulsory Secondary Education in Spain (February 3, 2015). Banco de Espana Working Paper No. 1502, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2559642 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2559642

Laura Hospido (Contact Author)

Banco de España - Research Department ( email )

Alcala 48
Madrid, 28014
Spain
+34 913385625 (Phone)
+34 913385678 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.laurahospido.com/

Ernesto Villanueva

Banco de España - Research Department ( email )

Alcala 50
28014 Madrid
Spain

Gema Zamarro

University of Arkansas - Department of Education Reform ( email )

201 Graduate Education Building
Fayetteville, AR 72701
United States

Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) ( email )

635 Downey Way
Los Angeles, CA 90089-3332
United States

HOME PAGE: http://works.bepress.com/gema_zamarro/

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