The Impact of Financial Education on Adolescents' Intertemporal Choices

Arbeitspapier

We examine the impact of a large high-school financial education program on the intertemporal choices of adolescents. We randomly assigned the program among a sample of almost 1,000 students and measured their intertemporal choices using an incentivized experiment. While intertemporal choices in the control group exhibit significant present bias, choices among treated students are time consistent on average. We structurally estimate individual preference parameters, explicitly allowing choices to be stochastic. Participation in the program increases time consistency and decreases error rates. These findings suggest that financial education can have significant effects on intertemporal choice already at a young age.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 4925

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Household Saving; Personal Finance ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡ ; Field Experiments
• Subject: intertemporal choice ; financial education ; experiment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Lührmann, Melanie ; Serra-Garcia, Marta ; Winter, Joachim
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/102192
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET