Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP10529
Authors: James Berry; Dean S. Karlan; Menno Pradhan
Abstract: We evaluate, using a randomized trial, two school-based financial literacy education programs in government-run primary and junior high schools in Ghana. One program integrated financial and social education, whereas the second program only offered financial education. Both programs included a voluntary after-school savings club that provided students with a locked money box. After nine months, both programs had significant impacts on savings behavior relative to the control group, mostly because children moved savings from home to school. We observed few other impacts. We do find that financial education, when not accompanied by social education, led children to work more compared to the control group, whereas no such effect is found for the integrated curriculum; however, the difference between the two treatment effects on child labor is not statistically significant.
Keywords: financial literacy; savings; youth finance
JEL Codes: D14; J22; J24; O12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Aflatoun program (A21) | savings behavior (D14) |
| HMB program (I18) | savings behavior (D14) |
| HMB program (I18) | child labor (J82) |
| Aflatoun program (A21) | child labor (J82) |
| savings behavior (D14) | savings attitudes (D14) |
| savings behavior (D14) | home savings support (G51) |
| savings behavior (D14) | risk and time preferences (D15) |
| savings behavior (D14) | financial literacy (G53) |
| savings behavior (D14) | expenditures (H72) |
| savings behavior (D14) | confidence (D83) |
| savings behavior (D14) | academic performance (D29) |