Essays on Households Finance and Financial Literacy in Italy

The research aim is to go deeper in the analysis of financial literacy level and its role in Italian financial habits. To investigate the best practices in the financial literacy field, the thesis consists of three chapters. The first one reviews the existing literature on the subject. The second chapter concerns an experiment personally set up in 2018 in a high school of Reggio Calabria. The sample is composed of 650 students from the fourth and fifth classes. Among these, 126 attended a course in financial education (61 a traditional course based on the rule of thumb and 65 a digital course based on learning by playing, for a total of six fourth classes, chosen and allocated to the treatment randomly). Since the design of the experiment allows us to adopt the counterfactual technique, it was possible to determine the positive and persistent effect of both courses. A comparison of the averages of the share of right answers, before and after the course, was carried out. Then, the difference-in- differences statistical technique has been applied as a robustness check. The additional benefit of the course is the increase in their perceived level of knowledge. Finally, the last chapter investigates the financial habits of Italian heads of families in relation to their level of expertise in this field. Through four waves of SHIW Bank of Italy data, in which financial literacy questions were administered, it was possible to investigate the relationship between financial knowledge and use of remote banking, number of withdrawals and the use of the overdraft, choice of the main bank and the ability to make ends meet. What emerges is that a higher level of financial knowledge mitigates improper financial behavior, and promotes informed financial choices.