Financial education and how to improve it
Financial education
Fecha: septiembre 2024
Santiago Carbó Valverde, Pedro Cuadros Solas and Francisco Rodríguez Fernández
SEFO, Spanish and International Economic & Financial Outlook, V. 13 N.º5 (September 2024)
Financial education is evolving daily amidst rapid digitalization and economic transformation, bringing with it challenges and opportunities for improvement within Spain and abroad. For instance, financial literacy gaps remain significant, particularly among women, younger individuals, and low-income groups, who are most at risk of financial exclusion. Even though Spain has made progress in this area, there are still inequalities in the implementation and quality of the various educational programmes, warranting a more inclusive approach that is tailored for today’s technological needs. It is thus necessary to carry out a thorough assessment of the financial education programmes in place in Spain. That said, despite the efforts made, the lack of longitudinal studies and random controlled tests limits the ability to identify best practices to continually fine-tune these programmes. Going forward, the establishment of control and monitoring systems to measure the real impact of financial education on financial behaviour in the long run will be necessary to ensure that the initiatives implemented meet their objectives and help reduce economic and social inequalities.