Bettina FUHRMANN, WU Wien: "FINANCIAL LITERACY - HOW TO DEFINE, ASSESS, AND FOSTER IT."

Location: TC.3.10

Date and Time: Tuesday, June 07^th, 2016; 16.00-19.00

In modern economies people find themselves in an increasingly globalized, complex and risky marketplace. Financial services have become more complex and difficult to understand, but at the same time more important than ever as there are many financial decisions to be made by individuals. Consequently, it has become more important for everyone to be able to deal reasonably with money and to make sound decisions in financial matters. The recent financial crisis has also contributed to a higher attention towards the issues of financial literacy. Over the past decade, financial literacy has been researched in many countries of the world and the results have consistently shown that the level of financial literacy is rather low among large portions of the population. In most studies, the assessment of financial literacy focuses on measuring financial knowledge which is an important but not the only dimension of financial literacy. Usually, comprehensive definitions of financial literacy comprise more than just knowledge, they also cover money attitudes and financial behavior. However, little is known about the nature of the relationships between knowledge, attitudes and behavior and sound financial decision-making. And even less is known about the effectivity of financial education programs. Therefore the presentation in the research seminar will mainly address three questions: What is financial literacy? How can it be assessed? And how can it be fostered?

Bettina Fuhrmann is a professor of business education at Vienna University of Economics and Business and head of the Institute for Business Education as well as of the academic program Social Skills at WU. Her work is dedicated to promoting economic literacy on several levels, first of all by educating her students to become effective business teachers. Economic literacy is also her main field of research and she is also coordinator of various research projects on economic literacy as well as financial literacy. She represents WU as an affiliate member of the OECD International Network on Financial Education (INFE), has established contacts to educational initiatives in financial education all over the world and is co-editor of the recently published International Handbook of Financial Literacy.