{"title":"Enhancing Financial Knowledge Through High School Education: The Effect of Mandated Economics and Personal Finance Courses","authors":"Taufiq Hasan Quadria, Israt Jahan","doi":"10.1111/joca.70019","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n <p>This study examines the impact of state-mandated economics and personal finance education policies on individuals' financial knowledge, measured through subjective financial knowledge (SFK) and objective financial knowledge (OFK). Using data from the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) and state-level policy records, we apply regression analysis and matching techniques to evaluate the effects of these mandates. The findings reveal that economic education standards significantly enhance OFK, particularly when implemented as district requirements, while personal finance education shows smaller yet positive effects. The results show that younger individuals, who are directly exposed to personal finance courses, benefit more with improvements in SFK and OFK. Despite limitations related to data periodicity and potential biases, the results support increasing high school financial education requirements to help people make better financial decisions.</p>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":47976,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Consumer Affairs","volume":"59 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Consumer Affairs","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joca.70019","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study examines the impact of state-mandated economics and personal finance education policies on individuals' financial knowledge, measured through subjective financial knowledge (SFK) and objective financial knowledge (OFK). Using data from the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) and state-level policy records, we apply regression analysis and matching techniques to evaluate the effects of these mandates. The findings reveal that economic education standards significantly enhance OFK, particularly when implemented as district requirements, while personal finance education shows smaller yet positive effects. The results show that younger individuals, who are directly exposed to personal finance courses, benefit more with improvements in SFK and OFK. Despite limitations related to data periodicity and potential biases, the results support increasing high school financial education requirements to help people make better financial decisions.
期刊介绍:
The ISI impact score of Journal of Consumer Affairs now places it among the leading business journals and one of the top handful of marketing- related publications. The immediacy index score, showing how swiftly the published studies are cited or applied in other publications, places JCA seventh of those same 77 journals. More importantly, in these difficult economic times, JCA is the leading journal whose focus for over four decades has been on the interests of consumers in the marketplace. With the journal"s origins in the consumer movement and consumer protection concerns, the focus for papers in terms of both research questions and implications must involve the consumer"s interest and topics must be addressed from the consumers point of view.