The Impact of Financial Education for Children: Evidence from an Experiment in China

Financial education for children has drawn considerable attention and has recently been advocated in schools; however, its impact still needs to be examined with a more comprehensive evaluation framework. This study carries out a paired-design experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of the Aflatoun Child Social & Financial Education program, which is initiated by the International Children's Savings Foundation and covers more than 100 countries and millions of children and adolescents. The participants are students in grades 4–5 of primary schools in China. By using difference-in-differences estimation, this study finds that the Aflatoun curriculum can significantly improve children’s behaviors in regular saving, rational consumption, and social participation. At the same time, unintended adverse negative effects are spotted in terms of children’s attitudes and personality development. The estimation of its heterogeneous effects shows that financial education for children can achieve greater success in improving boys’ financial behaviors and in underdeveloped areas.