Financial Education and the Debt Behavior of the Young

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Brown, Meta; Grigsby, John; van der Klaauw, Wilbert; Wen, Jaya; Zafar, Basit
• 署名单位: Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - New York; University of Chicago; Yale University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhw006
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 2490
• 关键词: cognitive function; NUMERICAL ABILITY; literacy; INVESTMENT; decisions

摘要

Young Americans are heavily reliant on debt and have clear financial literacy shortcomings. In this paper, we study the effects of exposure to financial training on debt outcomes in early adulthood among a large and representative sample of young Americans. Variation in exposure to financial training comes from statewide changes in high school graduation requirements. Using a flexible event study approach, we find that both mathematics and financial education, by and large, decrease reliance on nonstudent debt and improve repayment behavior. Economics training, on the other hand, increases both the likelihood of holding outstanding debt and the prevalence of repayment difficulties.