Adolescents’ and Young Adults' Naïve Understandings of the Economic Crisis

Authors

  • Anna Emilia Berti
    Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy, and Applied Psychology, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
  • Anna Maria Ajello
    Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy
  • Carmela Aprea
    Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany
  • Ilaria Castelli
    Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Università degli Studi di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
  • Elisabetta Lombardi
    Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
  • Antonella Marchetti
    Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
  • Davide Massaro
    Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
  • Viviana Sappa
    Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET), Lugano, Switzerland
  • Annalisa Valle
    Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

Abstract

Over the last decade, Financial Literacy (FL) and interventions aimed at improving it, that is Financial Education (FE), have been the focus of increased attention from economists, governments, and international organizations such as the world Bank and OECD, but much less by scholars in the fields of Learning and Instruction. We examined open-ended written answers on the causes of the economic crisis that started in 2007-2008, as given by 381 Italian secondary school and university students, and 268 Swiss Italian-speaking secondary school students. Most Italian students mentioned internal political causes (i.e., corrupt politicians or inefficiency of the government), whereas Swiss students mentioned banks more often. International factors were rarely mentioned by either group, and explanations were generally very poor, listing a few causes without making connections between them. These findings indicate the need for economics education aimed at making people more knowledgeable of the workings of the economic system and the effects of financial systems on the real economy.