You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Back to History Current Version

Learning by playing: Experimental Evidence on Financial Education

Last registered on May 14, 2025
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Learning by playing: Experimental Evidence on Financial Education
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015717
Initial registration date
May 08, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
May 14, 2025, 10:43 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Chile
Region
Maule, Biobío and Ñuble

Primary Investigator

Name
Leopoldo Lazcano
Affiliation
Stockholm University (SOFI)
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-05-14
End date
2025-10-31
Keywords
Education, Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
Financial education, financial literacy, game-based learning, students
JEL code(s)
G53, I22, C93, D14, D91
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study plans to determine to what extent learning through games is an effective tool for financial education in schools. In collaboration with a foundation, teachers are trained to play a board game introducing personal finance knowledge with their students. I randomly assign classes for each teacher, so that they play with one class. Then, there are three different control groups: i) other class of the same teacher, other class from other teacher in the same school and other class in a different school (and different teacher). Using a survey, I measure students' financial behaviour before and after being exposed to play a board game aimed to introduce personal finance topics. Thus, I am able to observe the causal effect of playing the board game in financial literacy. Also, I measure peer effects for the classes that did were not exposed to the game. Finally, I measure the persistence of these effects one year after the intervention.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Lazcano, Leopoldo. 2025. "Learning by playing: Experimental Evidence on Financial Education." AEA RCT Registry. May 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15717-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

Partner

Name
Fundación Entrepreneur
Type
ngo
URL
https://www.fentrepreneur.org/
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
I study the effect of a board game called Financity as an instrument to increase financial education in schools. The game provides knowledge on: Balancing money with well-being, responsible use of money, preparation of budget, risks of over-indebtedness, responsible purchase, relationship with financial entities, importance of saving. It can be played by 3 to 6 players, from 12 years old, with a duration of approximately 60 minutes.

We train teachers in-person how to play the game and teach it to their students. Also, continuous support is provided during the intervention. The teachers then play with their assigned class for approximately 4 months. The other classes do not get to play and keep having the normal curriculum, which includes financial education in theory within certain subjects, but not in practice.
Intervention Start Date
2025-05-14
Intervention End Date
2025-10-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Debt and saving levels
Intention to save index
Purchasing behavior
Financial autonomy index
Financial savviness
Financial literacy
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Intention to save index comes from 21 questions with answers ranging from extremely negative to extremely positive (7point scale) on attitudes toward behavior, subjective norms, perceived control over one's own behavior, attitudes about the possible effects of behavior, motivation for following subjective norms and perceived benefits of oneäs own behavior.

Financial autonomy index comes from 15 questions with answers agree or disagree on reflexive autonomy, emotional autonomy and functional autonomy.

Financial savviness is built from four binary outcomes: keeping a budget, saves before buying something that cannot be afforded, compares prices and bargains before shopping.

Financial literacy comes from 3 questions from Lusardi and Mitchell (2014) on interest rate, inflation and risk diversification.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Aspirations and expectations of going to university
Spillover effects (primary outcomes for control group)
School performance
School attendance
Gender differences
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The universe of interest is restricted to students of signed-up teachers from three regions: Maule, Biobío and Ñuble. The final universe included 20-30 schools. The restricted universe is stratified class size and cohort.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by computer
Randomization Unit
Classroom level
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2 classes per teacher, 120 classes
(2 classes per teacher + 1 class of other teacher + 1 class from different school, 240 classes.)
Sample size: planned number of observations
Each class has an average of 25 students. Each teacher has two classes, the total sample could reach 3,000 students (60 teachers × 25 students × 2 classes), with 1,500 in the treatment group and 1,500 in the control group. Additionally, teachers may be asked to invite a colleague to complete the survey and administer it to another class, creating a secondary control group in which neither the teacher nor the students receive the intervention (1,500 students). Additionally, a third control group with classes from a different school in which neither the teacher nor the students nor anyone at the school receive the intervention (1,500 students).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
60 treatment classes (1,500 students) and 60 control classes (1,500 students) + possible 60 second control classes (1,500 students) + possible 60 third control classes (1,500 students)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Power calculations were performed with the following parameters: significance level of 0.05, statistical power of 0.8, minimum detectable effect of 0.1 SDs, R2 of the outcome equation of 0.1, intra-cluster correlation of 0.05 and a sample size of 25 students per class. Under these assumptions, 52 classes were required, 26 in each treatment arm. (For the case with the second control group, 69 classes were required, 23 in each group). (For the case with the second and third control group, 80 classes were required, 20 in each group).
Supporting Documents and Materials

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information