Does the content of financial literacy education resources vary based on who made or paid for them?

Abstract

In the decade since the global financial crisis, an increasing number of jurisdictions have added mandatory financial literacy education to school curricula. Governments recognize that this increases the burden on teachers, who may also lack the confidence to teach financial literacy. One response is to encourage the use of resources produced or sponsored by the financial services industry. The concern is that these resources may promote the industry’s interest in maximizing profits and minimizing regulation over students’ interest in becoming empowered financial consumers. As a first step in investigating this concern, we compared resources from the Canadian Financial Literacy Database produced or sponsored by the financial services industry with those produced by government, non-profit organizations and individuals. We focused on online resources intended for use by elementary teachers and students to determine whether the key themes and messages conveyed vary based on who made or paid for the resource. We found that key themes are consistent across resources, regardless of industry affiliation, but that resources produced or sponsored by the financial services industry are more likely to exhibit a moralistic tone.