Wall Street executives and politicians from both parties have argued that Americans’ lack of financial literacy was a major cause of the Great Recession. In response, both public and private financial literacy initiatives have proliferated wildly over the last several years. But are these efforts to teach people to live within their means, to maintain emergency funds and to inspect documents carefully before signing them, really the most effective way to help millions of struggling families?

How have the saving, spending, and investing habits of both upper-income and lower-income Americans been changing in response to the recession? Have personal finance gurus and financial empowerment programs had a major role in driving this change? 

Join New America NYC for a discussion of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to financial education, and of what might be done, from a policy standpoint, to help better protect American families from future financial catastrophe.

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