Implications of behavioural economics for financial literacy and public policy

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    97 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This paper summarizes and highlights different methodological approaches to behavioural economics in the context of the conventional economic wisdom and the implications of these different methodological approaches for financial literacy, related institutional change, and public policy. Conventional economics predicts no substantive improvement from improvements to financial literacy. The errors and biases approach to behavioural economics suggests limited improvements to decision making from financial education as errors and biases are largely hardwired in the brain. Government and expert intervention affecting individual choice behaviour is recommended. The evidence suggests that the bounded rationality approach to behavioural economics, with its focus on smart decision makers and the importance institutional and environment constraints on decision making, is the most promising lense through which to analyse financial decision making. From this perspective, financial decision making can be improved by providing decision makers with better quality information presented in a non-complex fashion, an institutional environment conducive to good decisions, an incentive structure that internalize externalities involved in financial decision making, and financial education that will facilitate making the best use of the information at hand within a specific decision-making environment.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)677-690
    Number of pages14
    JournalJournal of Socio-Economics
    Volume41
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2012

    Keywords

    • Behavioural economics
    • Decision-making environment
    • Ecological rationality
    • Financial literacy
    • Heuristics
    • Imperfect information
    • Nudging
    • Trust

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Economics and Econometrics

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