This presentation at the Canadian Economics Association by Professor Annamaria Lusardi, looks at how we measure financial literacy, how we measure the impact of financial literacy on behaviour, how this data and these findings may be used to design policy and programs and what the implications for...

Household debt levels in Canada have been rising since the 1990s, which poses increasing risks for Canada’s economy and Canadians’ financial health. However, the debt ‘picture’ for an average low- or moderate-income household is likely to be quite different from higher income...

More than 44 million people in America have taken on student debt to pursue a post-secondary education. These borrowers collectively owe around $1.6 trillion in student loan debt. Borrowers exist in every community, but some are particularly vulnerable to its impact.  Women hold two-thirds of all...

Aspen Financial Security Program’s the Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC) has identified seven specific consumer debt problems that result in decreased financial insecurity and well-being. Four of the identified problems are general to consumer debt: households’ lack of savings...

Local governments across the United States are working to help their residents weather the health and financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In many cities and counties, that means deploying their Financial Empowerment Centers (FECs), which provide professional, one-on-one financial...

This report presents results from a joint research study between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Credit Karma. The purpose of the study is to examine how consumers’ subjective financial well-being relates to objective measures of consumers’ financial health, specifically,...

As student loan reform continues to dominate national discourse, a NEFE-funded study shows that financial education in states with state-mandated personal finance graduation requirements causes students to make better decisions about how to pay for college. It increases applications for aid,...

In order to monitor the financial and economic status of American consumers, the Federal Reserve Board conducted the third annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking in October and November 2015. This survey provides insights into the well-being of households and consumers, and...

This is the first in a series of @ Issue Papers that looks at the participation of traditionally under-represented cohorts in postsecondary education. The purpose of this @ Issue Paper is to summarize what is currently known about the participation of low-income students in PSE, with a particular...

Promotion of high school students’ access to post-secondary education is a major goal of Canadian governments, in part because of its increasingly important role in helping individuals attain social and economic success. Yet, uncertainty remains as to the best policy interventions to encourage...

Financial capability is a multi-dimensional concept that encompasses a combination of knowledge, resources, access, and habits. The NFCS is designed to understand and measure a rich, connected set of perceptions, attitudes, experiences, and behaviours across a large, diverse sample in order to...

Reimagining financial aid to include asset accumulation for those currently disadvantaged has the potential to meet one of our most critical challenges: equipping enough students to succeed in college education to power future societal economic prosperity, at a cost individual students and our...