The Public Education System

Recent posts have discussed the role of financial education within broader efforts to promote improved household financial management in LDCs.  And these discussions are as relevant in the world’s richest economies as they are in the poorest.

A 2008 study from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada reports that only a third of young Canadians (aged 18-29) save regularly, roughly one third do not have any savings at all, and 21% are carrying consumer debt of over $20,000.  And when CCN Money reported earlier this yearthat a major American bank had issued a credit card with an APR of 79.9%, several contributors to this site began to discuss the need for improved financial literacy in the world’s richest economies, as well as its poorest.  More specifically, several of us asked ourselves: Which institutions have the incentives and capacity to deliver financial education in developed countries?

Last week, the Government of Canada introduced a financial literacy bill designed to help debt-burdened Canadians manage their money.  The bill, if approved, will ensure that the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada works with willing jurisdictions to deliver a financial education curriculum to young Canadians through the educational system. 

“Financial literacy education should be taught at the high-school level,” explained the Member of Parliament who introduced the motion. “Ensuring that Canadians have the tools and knowledge to make responsible financial decisions is important for their personal well-being and for the strength and stability of our financial system as a whole,” argued the Finance Minister.  However, detractors of the bill – including a prominent consumer advocate group – suggest that the effort will have little impact and the added bureaucracy may be a waste of public resources.

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Mon, December 24, 2012 | Education Portal of India