Literacy and Financial Education: Private Providers, Public Certification and Political Preferences

Carolina Guerini, Donato Masciandaro () and Alessia Papini
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Carolina Guerini: Cattaneo University LIUC and SDA Bocconi University
Donato Masciandaro: Bocconi University, and SUERF
Alessia Papini: Bocconi University

Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, 2025, vol. 11, issue 2, No 2, 463-514

Abstract: Abstract Financial education can influence the level of financial literacy. In many countries public authorities implement financial education policy by means of ex ante certification of both private and public providers of education activities. This article uses political economy, educational marketing and text analysis as complementary tools to offer a positive analysis of such setting. Being financial education a credence good and given the key assumption that financial literacy is a country state–contingent endowment that deteriorates, as a consequence of innovation, the third-party certification can be considered as a strategic governance solution. Yet, when a public agency acts as third-party certifier, political and bureaucratic incentives shape its action. In particular, political activism in financial education can be motivated by financial instability worries. Such theoretical relationship is empirically confirmed applying text analyses, and using financial education narrative as a proxy for activism both for the politicians of the European Parliament and the bureaucrats of the ECB in the period 1997–2024.

Keywords: Financial education; Financial literacy; Political economy; Education marketing; Text analysis; European Parliament and ECB (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 G28 G53 L15 M3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s40797-024-00287-1

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