Boosting Financial Literacy: The Roles to Enhance Quality of Life

The focus of this study was on the effect of financial literacy on enhancing people’s quality of life, based on three aspects; financial knowledge, financial attitude, and financial behavior. The questionnaire used in data collection was divided into two main parts, one evaluating the respondents’ financial literacy and the other evaluating their quality of life. The first part was adapted from surveys of financial literacy conducted by the OECD and the BOT. The 26 questions used to evaluate quality of life were adopted from the World Health Organization’s Quality of Life assessment for Thailand (WHOQOL-BREF-THAI). The sample group was selected using non-probability convenience sampling which applies no selection criteria in the sampling and mainly relies on the cooperation of the respondents, all of whom live in Trang Province. The survey was administered to 1,310 people aging from 15 to 65, who answered the questionnaire. Analysis of the data consisted of structural equation modeling. The study found that levels of financial literacy affect people’s quality of life. The most influential component was behavior supported by the right attitude. Another interesting finding was that a higher level of financial knowledge does not automatically help to improve people’s quality of life. The government can take action to raise the level of financial literacy, but people are also required to change their attitudes to the point that they also transform their behavior. Moreover, people need to thoroughly understand and effectively apply the knowledge gained.

Gold as a hedge against inflation : the Vietnamese case

AbstractWe investigate the inflation-hedging properties of gold in Vietnam, reaching formidable records in 1980s-1990s. Consistent with conventional belief, we find that gold provides a complete hedge against both the ex post and ex ante inflation. In addition, its return is positively related to unexpected inflation, although the statistical evidence does not strongly support this. However, in general, we cannot reject that gold does provide a complete hedge against inflation. Furthermore, our findings support the Fisher hypothesis that nominal gold returns move in a one-for-one correspondence with expected inflation. The study has implications for both investors and government

The inflation-hedging ability of real estate evidence in Thailand : 1987-2011

AbstractThis study examines whether real estate in Thailand can hedge against ex post and ex ante inflation during the 1987-2011. To achieve this, we follow the Fama and Schwert (1977)’s framework. The study finds that real estate returns have positive relation with both ex post and unexpected inflation over the period, even though the statistical evidence does not strongly support this. Furthermore, after separating the time series into sub-periods to control for the possible structural changes in the economy, we find that the relationship between inflation and real estate returns change under various economic environments