Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP17609
Authors: Francesco Billari; Carlo A. Favero; Francesco Saita
Abstract: We present and test experimentally a low-cost, Internet-based, literacy intervention program that we designed for implementation with the largest employer-based pension fund in Italy. The Finlife (Financial Education and Planning for a Long Life) program, included: 1) an online instructional video on financial, and demographic, literacy; 2) an experimental design that explicitly allowed evaluating the impact of the online content on financial and demographic literacy, as well as on short-term behavioral changes; 3) a follow-up that allowed assessing the subsequent choice of investment lines within the pension fund. Finlife was designed to be low-cost and scalable approach to increase financial and demographic literacy, consistently with a ‘nudge’ philosophy. We show that Finlife delivered a substantially and statistically significant increase in financial and demographic literacy, as well as a push towards seeking more information on financial markets and choices related to financial planning, and becoming more active in financial decisions.
Keywords: pensions; financial literacy; demographic literacy; field experiment; finlife; online financial education
JEL Codes: D91
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Finlife program (G53) | financial literacy (G53) |
| Finlife program (G53) | demographic literacy (J10) |
| Finlife program (G53) | seeking information about investment lines (G24) |
| Finlife program (G53) | switching investment options (G11) |
| Finlife program (G53) | riskier investment profiles (younger participants) (G11) |