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Policy makers have embraced financial education as a necessary antidote to the increasing complexity of consumers' financial decisions over the last generation. We conduct a meta-analysis of the relationship of financial literacy and of financial education to financial behaviors in 168 papers covering 201 prior studies. We find that interventions to improve financial literacy explain only 0.1% of the variance in financial behaviors studied, with weaker effects in low-income samples. Like other education, financial education decays over time; even large interventions with many hours of instruction have negligible effects on behavior 20 months or more from the time of intervention. Correlational studies that measure financial literacy find stronger associations with financial behaviors. We conduct three empirical studies, and we find that the partial effects of financial literacy diminish dramatically when one controls for psychological traits that have been omitted in prior research or when one uses an instrument for financial literacy to control for omitted variables. Financial education as studied to date has serious limitations that have been masked by the apparently larger effects in correlational studies. We envisage a reduced role for financial education that is not elaborated or acted upon soon afterward. We suggest a real but narrower role for \"just-in-time\" financial education tied to specific behaviors it intends to help. We conclude with a discussion of the characteristics of behaviors that might affect the policy maker's mix of financial education, choice architecture, and regulation as tools to help consumer financial behavior. This paper was accepted by Uri Gneezy, behavioral economics.

Planning has pronounced effects on consumer behavior and intertemporal choice. We develop a six‐item scale measuring individual differences in propensity to plan that can be adapted to different domains and used to compare planning across domains and time horizons. Adaptations tailored to planning time and money in the short run and long run each show strong evidence of reliability and validity. We find that propensity to plan is moderately domain‐specific. Scale measures and actual planning measures show that for time, people plan much more for the short run than the long run; for money, short‐ and long‐run planning differ less. Time and money adaptations of our scale exhibit sharp differences in nomological correlates; short‐run and long‐run adaptations differ less. Domain‐specific adaptations predict frequency of actual planning in their respective domains. A “very long‐run” money adaptation predicts FICO credit scores; low planners thus face materially higher cost of credit.

Though perceived financial well-being is viewed as an important topic of consumer research, the literature contains no accepted definition of this construct. Further, there has been little systematic examination of how perceived financial well-being may affect overall well-being. Using consumer financial narratives, several largescale surveys, and two experiments, we conceptualize perceived financial wellbeing as two related but separate constructs: 1) stress related to the management of money today (current money management stress), and 2) a sense of security in one’s financial future (expected future financial security). We develop and validate measures of these constructs (web appendix A) and then demonstrate their relationship to overall well-being, controlling for other life domains and objective measures of the financial domain. Our findings demonstrate that perceived financial well-being is a key predictor of overall well-being and comparable in magnitude to the combined effect of other life domains (job satisfaction, physical health assessment, and relationship support satisfaction). Further, the relative importance of current money management stress to overall well-being varies by income groups and due to the differing antecedents of current money management stress and expected future financial security. Implications for financial well-being and education efforts are offered.

Two repeated-measure experiments examine the role of spokescharacters in defending consumer perceptions of brand attitude, brand trust, and the willingness to pay a price premium (WPPP) for the brand. Based on the theory of anthropomorphization, the first experiment assesses the moderating role of the alignment between the spokescharacter personality and negative information. Results show that nonaligned negative information and personality traits offer a stronger defense for the brand. The second experiment extends the first by comparing the role of spokescharacters relative to another visual promotion tool, brand logos. Results show that when personality and negative information are not aligned, there are no significant (unfavorable) effects on brand attitude and trust when either spokescharacters or logos are used, but the brands are susceptible to unfavorable effects when the negative information is aligned. In addition, the spokescharacter offers somewhat greater protection for the brand than does the logo when the negative information is aligned.

This study examines the role of the highest levels of caloric knowledge, obesity consequences knowledge, and motivation to search for nutrition information in the processing of relative nutrient content claims in advertisements, such as \"half the calories\" or \"half the fat,\" for products relatively high in total calorie levels. After controlling for the impact of demographics, dietary habits, body mass index, relative ad claims and disclosures, perceived weight gain risk, and other variables, the authors find curvilinear (quadratic) effects for caloric knowledge, obesity consequences knowledge, and motivation to search for nutrition information on intent to buy an advertised, high-calorie snack bar. This suggests a strengthening of the negative relationship for intent for consumers at the highest levels of caloric knowledge, obesity consequences knowledge, and motivation (i.e., the \"nutrition elite\"). The authors offer public policy implications, including whether achieving such exceedingly high levels of nutrition knowledge and motivation is realistic for the general public in light of other policy alternatives, such as market-based solutions (e.g., reducing serving sizes, standardized front-of-package icons).

How front-of-package (FOP) nutrition icon systems affect product evaluations for more and less healthful objective nutrition profiles is a critical question facing food marketers, consumers, and the public health community. We propose a conceptually-based hierarchical continuum to guide predictions regarding the effectiveness of several FOP systems currently used in the marketplace. In Studies 1a and 1b, we compare the effects of a broad set of FOP icons on nutrition evaluations linked to health, accuracy of evaluations, and purchase intentions for a single product. Based on these findings, Studies 2 and 3 test the effects of two conceptually-different FOP icon systems in a retail laboratory in which consumers make comparative evaluations of multiple products at the retail shelf. While there are favorable effects of each system beyond control conditions with no FOP icons, results show that icons with an evaluative component that aid consumers’ interpretations generally provide greater benefits (particularly in product comparison contexts). We offer implications for consumer packaged goods marketers, retailers, and the public policy and consumer health communities.

Two-thirds of adolescent and young adult smokers become lifetime smokers, and one-half of those lifetime smokers will die from this habit. The authors examine alternative persuasive pathways to thoughts of quitting taken by adolescent and young adult smokers when exposed to graphic visual health warnings on cigarette packages. For adolescent smokers, the authors find that graphic warnings and smoking frequency affect fear, and fear influences negative health beliefs about smoking, ultimately increasing thoughts of quitting. They also find that the graphic warning and a graphic warning × smoking frequency interaction have incremental effects on quit thoughts beyond the effects of fear and negative health beliefs. Using a longitudinal design with a sample of young adult smokers, the authors find support for many of the adolescent smoker findings, particularly the incremental effects of graphicness and its interaction with smoking frequency. These similar results from diverse samples support the use of graphic visual warnings but suggest that effects are attenuated for those who smoke the most. The authors offer implications for countermarketing programs and public health policy.

This research examines the roles of health literacy, health numeracy, and trust in doctor on: (1) patient anxiety when consulting a doctor; (2) frequency of physician consultations; and (3) patient subjective well-being (SWB). Our sample consisted of 4,040 adults representative of the United States in terms of age, income, and education, but equally split among White/Caucasian (50%) and Black/African American (50%) respondents. We found that functional and communicative health literacy and trust in doctor have linear and curvilinear relationships with anxiety when consulting a doctor. Health numeracy had no effect. Anxiety when consulting a doctor was associated with a lower number of physician consultations and lower SWB. We observed direct linear effects of health literacy, health numeracy, and trust in doctor on frequency of physician consultations and SWB, as well as some curvilinear effects. We found a negative relationship between health numeracy and SWB. We discuss implications of these findings for health and public policy.

To date, most studies of graphic health warnings (GHWs) on cigarette packages have focused on adult samples and/or the unique role of evoked fear in influencing smoking beliefs and behaviors. Using a sample of 349 adolescents, classified as either current smokers or nonsmokers, the authors examine the effects GHWs on a broader array of emotions (i.e., fear, guilt, anddisgust). Results show that perceived graphicness of the visual warning positively affects these emotions, and being a smoker increases the positive effect of perceived graphicness. In addition, evoked fear and guilt interact with smoking status to strengthen the positive influence of these emotions on current smokers' consideration of smoking. Smoking status also moderates the effects of fear and guilt by strengthening adolescent smokers' negative feelings about secondhand smoke and about other adolescents' consideration of smoking. Finally, the authors find a direct effect of perceived graphicness of the GHW on the smoking consideration measures that is not fully mediated by the evoked emotions. Implications for designing health warnings and making public health policy are offered.