Early Development of Financial Competencies: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from an Elementary School Financial Education Intervention

A lack of financial education and weak basic financial competencies remain a persistent challenge to individual well-being and long-term economic outcomes, especially at early ages, where structured and evidence-based interventions are scarce. While evidence on financial education delivered later in the life cycle is mixed, theory and empirical research suggest that early investments in foundational skills may be more effective due to dynamic complementarities in human capital formation (Cunha & Heckman, 2007; De Witte et al., 2020; Lusardi & Mitchell, 2014). This study evaluates a large-scale, classroom-based financial education intervention implemented in Italian elementary schools. The program consists of a two-phase educational game designed to develop core financial competencies, including the value of money, basic budgeting, saving decisions, and the coherence between financial choices and stated objectives. Students first explore price formation by matching everyday goods to prices and then allocate a predefined budget to achieve specific goals. Using a quasi-experimental design with within-school control classes across 51 classes in 49 schools, the analysis focuses on proximal outcomes, including basic financial knowledge, budgeting ability, and the internal consistency of allocation choices. This study provides evidence that a scalable, game-based classroom intervention can strengthen foundational financial competencies among elementary school students by enhancing basic knowledge, improving budgeting ability, and promoting the coherence of financial choices.