Financial awareness and understanding about the financial concepts and procedures as well as the use of this understanding to solve financial problems. It encompasses conceptual financial knowledge, procedural financial knowledge and applied financial knowledge.
Published in Chapter:
Financial Literacy: Gaps Found Between Mexican Public and Private, Middle, and High-School Students
Adriana Berenice Valencia Álvarez (Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico) and Jaime Ricardo Valenzuela González (Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico)
Copyright: © 2017
|Pages: 27
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-2026-9.ch005
Abstract
Financial literacy is a combination of financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, key for making informed decisions and for solving financial problems. This descriptive study explored the applied, conceptual and procedural financial knowledge of 243 Mexican students via three financial knowledge tests. In addition, these students were surveyed about their financial behavior, their attitudes towards money, and their experience with money using a self-report questionnaire. The study aims to identify financial-education needs and gaps between school levels and systems. Therefore, the analysis focuses on the differences and similarities between two subgroups: (1) students in public and in private education, and between (2) middle school (ages 12 to 15) and high school students (ages 15 to 18). Middle school and high school students differed significantly only in their conceptual knowledge and in their financial experience, while public and private students showed statistical significant differences on their financial knowledge, behavior, attitudes and experience.