All over the world, people responsible for implementing financial education projects are asking themselves: "How do we know we are making a difference?" There is increasing recognition of the importance of undertaking high quality evaluation in order to answer this question. Our experts will share with you the principles and guidelines they have developed to build evaluation strategies tailored for financial education programs.

Introduction by: Diana Crossan, Commissioner, Retirement Commission, New Zealand

Presenters:

• Ms. Adele Atkinson, Policy Analyst, Financial Affairs Division, OECD
• Ms. Janet M. Murray, Financial Literacy Evaluator, Social Enterprise Development Innovations, Canada

Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide, will discuss how the human mind makes decisions. He will demonstrate how our emotional impulses influence our judgment, and how our need for immediate gratification often leads us to make apparently irrational decisions. Mr. Lehrer will explain that if we better understand how we make decisions and recognize the decision-making mistakes to which we are vulnerable, we can learn to make better decisions. Mr. Lehrer will discuss in particular how we can apply these principles to help people make better financial decisions.

Many financial literacy practitioners say that financial education alone is just not enough. Even when people have the information needed and know the right thing to do, they will not necessarily engage in an informed financial behaviour. Our panel of academics will discuss how a judicious balance of financial education and choice architecture initiatives can support governments’ efforts at influencing financial behaviours through public policy while respecting the freedom of choice of consumers.

Moderator: Mr. Marc-André Pigeon, Director, Financial Sector Policy, Credit Union Central of Canada

Panellists:

• Professor Dilip Soman, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Canada
• Dr. Paul Cox, Senior Lecturer of Finance, Business School of the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

Discussants:

• Dr. Angela Hung, Director, Center for Financial and Economic Decision Making, and Senior Economist, Rand Corporation, United States of America
• Ms. Delia Rickard, Senior Executive Leader for Financial Literacy, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Australia