The causal mechanism of financial education: Evidence from mediation analysis
| Autor: | Fenella Carpena, Bilal Zia |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Causal mediation analyses
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Economics and Econometrics Impact evaluation Financial plan Impact evaluations 0504 sociology Numeracy 0502 economics and business Treatment effect 050207 economics Causal mediation Financial services Financial inclusion Finance Mechanism (biology) business.industry 05 social sciences 050401 social sciences methods Financial knowledge Randomized control trials Financial regulation Financial education Financial literacy Access to finance Psychology business Savings account |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization |
| ISSN: | 0167-2681 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jebo.2020.05.001 |
| Popis: | This paper uses a field experiment in India and mediation analysis to investigate the causal mechanisms between financial education and financial behavior. Focusing on the mediating role of financial literacy, we propose a broader definition of financial knowledge that includes three dimensions: numeracy skills, financial awareness, and attitudes towards personal finance. We then employ causal mediation analysis to investigate the proportion of the treatment effect that can be attributed to these three channels. Strikingly, we find that numeracy does not mediate any effects of financial education on financial outcomes. For simple financial actions such as budgeting, both awareness and attitudes serve as pathways, while for more complex financial activities such as opening a savings account, attitudes play a more prominent role---though these patterns appear to be sensitive to confounding. We also compare our mediation analysis results to other empirical techniques that have been typically used to study mechanisms, and we discuss how mediation analysis differs from these approaches. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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