The Impact of Financial Education on Adolescents' Intertemporal Choices

We study the impact of financial education on intertemporal choice in adolescence. The educational program was randomly assigned among high-school students and choices were measured using an incentivized experiment. Students who participated in the program make more time-consistent choices; are more likely to allocate payments to a single payment date, as opposed to spreading payment across two dates; and display increased consistency of choice with the law of demand. These findings suggest that financial education increases the quality of intertemporal decision-making and decreases narrow bracketing.