This thesis is focused on education of financial literacy of children living in children's homes. It is based on current state of education politics in the fields of financial literacy, the contents of educational programmes and qualitative research of real current state of education of financial literacy in children's homes. The research itself will be made via structured interviews with children from children's homes. The research is focused on discovering the level of financial literacy of older children (15 - 18 years old) permanently living in children's homes, searching for possibilities of improvement of education of financial literacy in children's homes and therefore increasing prevention of social exclusion of young people leaving children's homes due to over-owing which is usually caused by low level of financial literacy. Key words Financial literacy, a client of a children's home, over-owing, social exclusion, the standards of financial literacy, educational politics, educational programs, economizing on financial resources.

This diploma thesis deals with examining the economic literacy of a headmaster. The topic has been chosen because of the belief that a good financial management is important for the development of a school. Another reason for the choice is the fact that there is virtually no set of unambiguously defined responsibilities and no set of suggested knowledge in the economic area which would provide guidance for headmaster in his work. The aim of the theoretical part is to find the necessary information, to define the key terms and to place the economics of the school management into the legislative framework. The practical (research) part examines the actual state of knowledge and the activity of headmasters in the financial management of the school. The difficulty, the risk of financial management in relation to other managerial activities and the comparability of different types and sizes of schools are also examined here. The outcome of this thesis is to give the definition and the content of the economic and financial literacy of a headmaster. It is also to determine the level of the financial literacy of the interviewed headmasters. KEYWORDS: Headmaster, economic literacy, financial literacy, decision-making authority, responsibilities of the headmaster, delegation of responsibilities, financial...

BARTAKOVIČOVÁ, Sylva. Questions of Economics Understanding of Primary School Students. Prague, 2014. Diploma thesis. UK, PedF. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the economic thinking of third grade students in primary school. On the basis of identified deficiencies, a set of ideas leading to more effective teaching is proposed. The theoretical section includes an examination of the state of economic thinking in primary school pupils in the Czech Republic and abroad. This explains the present form of financial education in the Czech Republic, and examines children's understanding, particularly in relation to constructivism. The practical section describes the preparation and implementation of qualitative research in the form of semi-structured individual interviews with pupils in their 3rd year, and 1st grade of primary school. In the conclusion, a set of ideas aimed to develop the financial thought processes of younger school students, supplement their knowledge, and strengthen their overall economic thinking, is proposed.

STÁRKOVÁ, Zuzana, Development of financial literacy, Prague, 2012. Zuzana Stárková - Charles University in Prague - Husitská teologická fakulta. Supervisor, Prof. PhDr. Beáta Krahulcová, CSc. Main topic of the diploma thesis is financial literacy, more specifically the risk of its consequences. First part of the thesis deals with definition of financial literacy, its causes and consequences. Next chapters are devoted to monetary literacy, ignorance of which causes many problems in the area of credits, loans and subsequently may lead to indebtedness. This part of the text defines important key words, whose knowledge in essential for using of banking services and products Last chapters of the theoretical part introduce the Consumer Protection Act and the issues of seizures and insolvency. Main objective of the practical part of the thesis is to carry out a research among university students in order to summarize the level of their awareness, knowledge and experience in the financial area.

Ce travail doctoral s’interroge sur les déterminants des comportements d’épargne salariale. Le chapitre 1 présente un état des lieux de l’épargne salariale. Nous détaillons ensuite les principales règles de fonctionnement de l’épargne salariale. Nous présentons enfin les principaux déterminants des comportements d’épargne salariale identifiés par la littérature. Le chapitre 2 examine les déterminants socio-économiques de l’efficience des portefeuilles d’épargne salariale. Il propose également une analyse des déterminants des erreurs d’investissement des salariés mesurées par un indice. Nous dissocions les investissements faits dans le cadre des augmentations de capital réservées aux salariés et ceux faits au titre des autres plans d’épargne entreprise. Nous nous intéressons d’une part à la décision binaire d’investir ou pas, et à l’efficience du portefeuille d’autre part. Notre échantillon porte sur 30 000 salariés d’un groupe bancaire français et contient des informations sur les caractéristiques individuelles des salariés et le détail des montants investis dans les plans et leurs caractéristiques de rentabilité et de risque. Les caractéristiques des salariés affectent significativement l’efficience des portefeuilles. Nous mettons en évidence une forte concentration en actions de l’entreprise. Nous montrons également que l’investissement des salariés est sous optimal compte tenu de l’écart existant entre le ratio de Sharpe optimal que nous avons calculés et le ratio de Sharpe des salariés. Nous régressons enfin cette différence sur les caractéristiques des salariés. Le chapitre 3 analyse empiriquement les déterminants de l’investissement en actions de l’entreprise. L’actionnariat salarié diminuerait les comportements de retrait des salariés tels que l’absentéisme et la rotation du personnel. Or, la causalité inverse que nous postulerons n’avait jamais été analysée : l’effet de l’absentéisme et de la rotation du personnel sur l’investissement en actions de l’entreprise par ses salariés. Nous montrons que l’absentéisme et la rotation du personnel affectent significativement la participation. Nous validons nos hypothèses de recherche à l’aide de diverses méthodes de régression. Nous analysons un panel d’environ 15 000 salariés de près de 900 filiales d’un groupe français coté appartenant au secteur de la construction, des travaux publics et des concessions sur une période de 5 ans. La participation au plan d’actionnariat salarié dépend du niveau d’absentéisme et de rotation du personnel au sein de l’entreprise. L’absentéisme et la rotation du personnel influencent l’investissement en actions de l’entreprise différemment selon la catégorie socioprofessionnelle du salarié et les motifs d’absences et de sorties Le chapitre 4 administre un questionnaire à des épargnants individuels afin d’évaluer leur connaissance financière. Nous nous sommes inspirés des enquêtes de Lusardi et de la Banque Centrale Européenne afin de réaliser un questionnaire adapté au cas français. Nous constatons l’influence de l’éducation financière sur les décisions d’investir. Le questionnaire a été diffusé auprès des salariés d’un établissement bancaire d’une part et de leurs clients d’autre part. Bien que nos résultats confirment dans l’ensemble la littérature sur la connaissance financière, nous identifions plusieurs nouveaux résultats. / This dissertation questions the determinants of employee savings behavior. Chapter 1 presents an overview of employee savings schemes. We then detail the main rules of employee savings schemes. Finally, we present the main determinants of the behavior of employee savings schemes identified by the literature. Chapter 2 examines the socio-economic determinants of employee savings’ portfolio efficiency. It also proposes an analysis of the determinants of investment errors of employees measured by an index. We dissociate investments made in the context of Employee stock purchase plan and those made through other employee savings plans. We are interested in the binary decision to invest or not on the one hand and in the portfolio efficiency on the other hand. Our sample covers 30,000 employees of a French bank, contains information on the individual characteristics of employees and details of the amounts invested in the plans, their risk and risk characteristics. The characteristics of the employees significantly affect the efficiency of the portfolios. We highlight a strong concentration of company stocks. We also show that the investment of employees is not optimal given the gap between the optimal Sharpe ratio and the actual Sharpe ratio. We finally regress this difference on the characteristics of the employees. Chapter 3 empirically analyzes the determinants of investment in company shares. Employee stock ownership would reduce the withdrawal behavior of employees, such as absenteeism and turnover. However, the reverse causality we assume had never been analyzed: the effect of absenteeism and the staff turnover on the investment in employer’s stocks. We show that absenteeism and staff turnover significantly affect participation. We validate our hypotheses using a variety of regression methods. We analyze a panel of approximately 15,000 employees of nearly 900 subsidiaries over a period of 5 years of a French listed company belonging to the construction, public works and concessions sector. Participation in employee stock ownership plan depends on the level of absenteeism and turnover of employees within the company. Absenteeism and staff turnover influence the investment in company shares differently depending on the employee's occupations category and the reasons for absences and departures. Chapter 4 analyze the results of a survey we sent to individual savers to assess their financial literacy. We translated the surveys of Lusardi and the European Central Bank to produce a questionnaire adapted to the French case. We see the influence of financial education on investment decisions. The questionnaire was distributed to the employees of a bank on the one hand and their customers on the other. Although our results generally confirm the literature on financial literacy, we identify several new findings.

Diese kumulative Dissertation untersucht die Rolle von Informationen und Finanzkompetenz im deutschen Crowdinvesting-Markt. Die erste Studie erforscht den Zusammenhang zwischen dem Umfang der von Start-Ups auf Companisto veröffentlichen Informationen und dem Investitionsverhalten von Crowdinvestoren auf Basis proprietärer Nutzer-level Companisto-Daten. Meine Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass (unerfahrene) private Investoren, im Gegensatz zu institutionellen Investoren, auch „weiche“ Informationen im Rahmen ihrer Investitionsentscheidungen berücksichtigen. Meine zweite Studie untersucht das tatsächliche Informationsverhalten von Crowdinvestoren im Vorfeld von Investitionen auf Basis von Nutzer-level Google Analytics-Daten. Meine Ergebnisse suggerieren, dass Investoren einen Großteil der von Start-ups bereitgestellten Informationen im Vorfeld von Investitionen ignorieren. Darüber hinaus zeige ich auf, dass das Informationsverhalten von Investoren mit den demografischen Merkmalen, der Crowdinvesting-Erfahrung und den (durchschnittlichen) Investitionsbeträgen von Investoren zusammenhängt. Meine Ergebnisse deuten zudem darauf hin, dass Investoren beim Vorliegen potentieller Indikatoren für die Qualität eines Start-ups bzw. bei weniger riskanten Investitionen, weniger Information akquirieren. In meiner dritten Studie, welche ich gemeinsam mit Joachim Gassen durchführe, untersuche ich den kausalen Effekt einer Online-Finanzschulung auf das Informations- und Investitionsverhalten von Crowdinvestoren im Rahmen eines Feldexperiments auf Companisto. Während das Experiment noch nicht abgeschlossen ist, motiviert der in dieser Dissertation enthaltene Zwischenbericht die zugrundeliegende Forschungsfrage und beschreibt das Forschungsdesign. Die vorläufigen Ergebnisse zeigen auf, dass Crowdinvestoren im Vergleich zu repräsentativen Stichproben der Gesamtpopulation, welche vergleichbaren Studien zugrunde liegen, ein signifikant höheres Maß an finanzieller Grundkompetenz aufweisen. / This cumulative Ph.D. thesis investigates the role of information and financial literacy in the German crowdinvesting market. Using proprietary investor-level data from Companisto, one of the largest German crowdinvesting portals, the first paper explores how the magnitude of start-ups’ disclosures on Companisto is associated with crowdinvestors’ investment behavior. My findings suggest that the investment decisions by both retail and institutional crowdinvestors are positively associated with the magnitude of start-ups’ voluntary disclosures. However, while start-ups’ ‘soft’ disclosures seem to play a role in the decision-making of (inexperienced) retail investors, they appear to be irrelevant for the investment decisions of institutional investors. My second thesis paper uses investor-level Google Analytics data to explore investors’ actual information acquisition prior to investing. My results indicate that crowdinvestors tend to neglect a substantial fraction of start-ups’ disclosures before investing. Moreover, I show that investors’ information acquisition varies with their demographics, their level of crowdinvesting experience as well as their (average) investment amounts. My findings further suggest that investors acquire less information in the presence of potential signals of start-up quality and (thus) in cases where the investment appears to be less risky. In my third paper, which is co-authored by Joachim Gassen, I study the causal effect of online financial training on crowdinvestors’ information and investment behavior by conducting a field experiment on Companisto. While the experiment is still ongoing, the interim report included in my thesis motivates the overall research question and explains the research design. Our preliminary results indicate that, compared to survey samples representative for the overall population, crowdinvestors exhibit a significantly higher level of ‘basic’ financial literacy.

Submitted by Elba Lopes (elba.lopes@fecap.br) on 2016-04-07T18:12:18Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Odilon_Feitosa_da_Silva_Neto.pdf: 802495 bytes, checksum: 2cfe6494011fceeb2dd72a93163e7985 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-07T18:12:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Odilon_Feitosa_da_Silva_Neto.pdf: 802495 bytes, checksum: 2cfe6494011fceeb2dd72a93163e7985 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-24 / The present research has sought to explain the context and usage of credit financial products in Brazil, considering the recent scenario of financial inclusion. Thus, the research has sought to verify the relation between the level of financial literacy of the individuals and the quality in decision making when consuming credit financial products. Also, the research discusses the relevant terms related to the theme and the main credit products recently offered by the financial institutions in the national market. Considering the focus of this research, the present work has allowed evaluation of the level of financial literacy of 317university students interviewed in a private university in the city of Sao Paulo regarding credit usage. Finally, the work proves that the higher the financial literacy level, the better the decision making in credit products consumption by the university students is, since they make choices that involve lower costs. / A presente pesquisa procurou explorar o contexto e utiliza????o de produtos financeiros de cr??dito no Brasil, considerando o recente cen??rio de inclus??o financeira. Assim, o estudo buscou verificar a rela????o entre o grau de alfabetiza????o financeira dos indiv??duos e a qualidade de suas decis??es ao consumir produtos financeiros de cr??dito. O estudo, ainda, discorre sobre os termos pertinentes ao tema e os principais produtos de cr??dito oferecidos atualmente pelas institui????es financeiras que atuam no mercado nacional. Levando-se em considera????o o objeto de pesquisa, o presente trabalho permitiu avaliar o grau de alfabetiza????o financeira de317 estudantes universit??rios entrevistados em uma universidade particular no centro da cidade de S??o Paulo no tocante ?? utiliza????o de produtos de cr??dito. Por fim, o trabalho comprova que quanto maior o n??vel de alfabetiza????o financeira, melhor s??o as tomadas de decis??o pelos universit??rios no consumo de produtos de cr??dito, uma vez que eles optam por opera????es de menor custo

At a Texas community college, stakeholders wanted to strengthen the financial literacy module offered in the student development course for undergraduates. The problem was that no formative data existed on students' financial literacy, and it was not known if knowledge of financial literacy for students who participated in a prior financial literacy class in high school differed from students who had not. The purpose of this study was to obtain formative data regarding students' needs for financial literacy education and to examine whether the knowledge of financial literacy for college students who participated in a prior financial literacy class in high school differed from students who had not. Guided by Knowles' andragogy theory, this descriptive comparative quantitative study explored students' overall financial literacy, including financial literacy subcomponents, and the relationship between students who had participated in a prior financial literacy class compared to students who had not. SurveyMonkey was used to administer the Jump$tart Coalition-® College Questionnaire to a convenience sample of 170 undergraduate students. Through descriptive data analysis (mean scores and composite scores) of the questionnaire responses, it was established that less than 70% of students were proficient in overall financial literacy. Independent samples t tests established no significant differences in financial literacy for students who participated in a prior financial literacy class compared to students who had not. The resulting project provides professional development for faculty to implement the Jump$tart Coalition-® curriculum promoting social change by developing financially competent adults, thereby contributing to fiscally sound economies.

This thesis consists of an introductory part and four self-contained papers related to individual financial behavior and risk-taking in financial markets. In Paper [I] we estimate within-family and community social interaction effects upon an individual’s stock market entry, participation, and exit decision. Interestingly, community sentiment towards the stock market (based on portfolio outcomes in the community) does not influence individuals’ likelihood to enter, while a positive sentiment increases (decreases) the likelihood of participation (exit). Overall, the results stress the importance of accounting for family social influence and highlight potentially important differences between family and community effects in individuals’ stock market participation. In Paper [II] novel evidence is provided indicating that the influence from family (parents and partners) and peer social interaction on individuals’ stock market participation vary over different types of individuals. Results imply that individuals’ exposure to, and valuation of, stock market related social signals are of importance and thus, contribute to the understanding of the heterogeneous influence of social interaction. Overall, the results are interesting and enhance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of social interaction on individuals’ financial decision making. In Paper [III] the impact of divorce ­­­on individual financial behavior is empirically examined in a dynamic setting. Evidence that divorcing individuals increase their saving rates before the divorce is presented. This may be seen as a response to the increase in background risk that divorce produces. After the divorce, a negative divorce effect on individual saving rates and risky asset shares are established, which may lead to disparities in wealth accumulation possibilities between married and divorced. Women are, on average, shown to not adjust their precautionary savings to the same extent as men before the divorce. I also provide tentative evidence that women reduce their financial risk-taking more than men after a divorce, which could be a result of inequalities in financial positions or an adjustment towards individual preferences.   Paper [IV] provides novel empirical evidence that gender identity is of importance for individuals’ financial risk-taking. Specifically, by use of matching and by dividing male and females into those with “traditional” versus “nontraditional” gender identities, comparison of average risk-taking between groupings indicate that over a third (about 35-40%) of the identified total gender risk differential is explained by differences in gender identities. Results further indicate that risky financial market participation is 19 percentage points higher in groups of women with nontraditional, compared with traditional, gender identities. The results, obtained while conditioning upon a vast number of controls, are robust towards a large number of alternative explanations and indicate that some individuals (mainly women) partly are fostered by society, through identity formation and socially constructed norms, to a relatively lower financial risk-taking.

This thesis is based on the bachelors thesis. It deals with current issues in the field of credit. This involves the history of this issue to the present and harmonization with EU law. It shows the situation after the amendment of the Act reporting obligations for loans provided to the penalties and sanctions. The theoretical part includes a barometer of credit to the 3rd quarter of 2013, and then figuring questionnaire consumer awareness and looking for possible recommendations and improvements to the current situation.