Carolina Guerini

Addressing the complex issue of financial education, this research analysis the obstacles that hinder fruition in Italy, offering, on one side, a taxonomy of the operating barriers and a clear indication of their relative importance, and, on the other side, some preliminary insights aimed at transforming needs in demand. In that sense, the article con tributes to the debate about individual e collective wellbeeing, outlining clear areas of intervention for private and public financial education proponents.

Given the benefits of financial education, a relevant objective becomes the inclusion of some priority objectives. Recent research in Italy outlines the fragility of the female gender, indicating it as the ideal recipient of public and private action. More clearly, there is the need to adopt diversified programs, suitable for covering the different segments of the female population with differentiated strategies and policies. This article analyzes the plan targeted to women developed and implemented by a private institution – Alleanza Assicurazioni – engaged in financial education.

Financial education can influence the level of financial literacy. In many countries public authorities implement financial education policy by means of ex ante certification of both private and public providers of education activities. This article uses political economy, educational marketing and text analysis as complementary tools to offer a positive analysis of such setting. Being financial education a credence good and given the key assumption that financial literacy is a country state–contingent endowmentthat deteriorates, as a consequence of innovation, the third-party certification can be considered as a strategic governance solution. Yet, when a public agency acts as third-party certifier, political and bureaucratic incentives shape its action. In particular, political activism in financial education can be motivated by financial instability worries. Such theoretical relationship is empirically confirmed applying text analyses, and using financial education narrative as a proxy for activism both for the politicians of the European Parliament and the bureaucrats of the ECB in the period 1997–2024.

In the face of the changes experienced by the figure of the salesperson and, in particular, to verify the diffusion of digital tools in the field of direct sales, a web-based research questionnaire was submitted to a sample of direct sales representatives of PEF S.p.A. (an Italian network marketing company operating in the energy industry), aimed at measuring the perceived usefulness and effective use of digital marketing tools. The questionnaire, administered in March/April 2023, provides an initial indication of the instrumentality of digital communication tools and, indirectly, of the evolution of the skills profile of the network marketer in the context of a role that bases its differentiation and the generated value for the customer on personal interaction vis-à-vis and off-line conversion.

In every country, the supply of financial education depends on the interactions between the market and State. Conflicts of interest may arise in both perimeters, given the nature of credence good of Financial Education. On the one hand, private firms can offer education, but the need for quality and the existence of potential conflicts require the State to play the role of third-party certifier. On the other hand, the public role of certification evokes problem areas: also in this case potential conflicts of interest may arise, while there is the risk of capture of the certifier by specific interests. The aim of the article is to use marketing and economics as complementary methodological tools to offer a general analysis in which financial education is the outcome of both market and state forces. The framework is then applied to the case of Italy where, in recent years, private and public players have proposed financial-education initiatives, while a public certifier has also been active in this field.

In any country, financial education can be driven by private and public interests. However, in both cases, trade-offs must be addressed and fixed. Private educators can elicit and educate individuals. However, as education is a credence good, quality-disclosure and conflict-of-interest issues can emerge. In parallel, public institutions can act as third-party certifiers, but political incentives that support inaction can produce quality-disclosure and conflict-of-interest issues. The aim of the article is to use marketing and economics as complementary methodological tools to offer a general analysis in which financial education is the outcome of both market and state forces. The framework is then applied to the case of Italy where, in recent years, private and public players have proposed financial-education initiatives, while a public certifier has also been active in this field.