The Policy Context for Financial Education in New Zealand
We describe the historical development of financial education policy in New Zealand, focussing on developments over the past 15–20 years. In particular, we evaluate the role that different sectors have played in this policy development, including governme
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The Policy Context for Financial Education in New Zealand Michael P. Cameron and Pushpa Wood
Abstract We describe the historical development of financial education policy in New Zealand, focussing on developments over the past 15–20 years. In particular, we evaluate the role that different sectors have played in this policy development, including government, the private sector and the non-government sector. Using recent national survey data, we demonstrate that a substantial improvement in average financial literacy levels has occurred over this period, concurrent with a range of policy initiatives. We also describe some specific interventions that have been undertaken in the non-government sector, and the positive impacts that have been demonstrated. While we cannot definitively attribute the improvement in overall financial literacy to specific programmes or features of the policy environment, we can be fairly confident that the current approach is having positive effects. Keywords Financial education
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Education policy New Zealand
Key Issues in Financial Education
Financial education has been labelled an urgent priority by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and many governments have accepted a mandate to educate financial consumers (OECD 2005). However, a number of key issues must be addressed in any move to prioritize financial education. First, there is currently no single best practice model for financial education, with OECD member states adopting a variety of policy models involving different M.P. Cameron (&) Department of Economics, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand e-mail: [email protected] P. Wood Financial Education and Research Centre, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C. Aprea et al. (eds.), International Handbook of Financial Literacy, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0360-8_13
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coordinating and funding mechanisms, delivery methods, target groups and topics (Grifoni and Messy 2012). One of the few common elements is that national financial education models tend to put the individual at the centre of the education process. This is appropriate. After all, it is the individual’s own financial skills and knowledge that are crucial to their financial decision-making. However, this individual-centric model could be viewed as shifting the responsibility for personal economic security from the state to the individual (Williams 2007). Related to this issue is the degree to which financial consumer protection is included in efforts to improve financial literacy. Some may argue that financial education efforts render greater protection of financial consumers unnecessary. However, such a belief is largely predicated on a model of financial education that has universal reach and perfectly informs financial consumers with respect to their future financial decisions. Williams (2007) cautions against an uncritical acceptance of the claims that financial education leads to consum
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