Financial Literacy and Macro-economics

Financial literacy, moving to the forefront on account of the economic crisis, is a crucial element of the proper function-ing of any society. Our goal is to identify the indicators of financial literacy in topic-related Hungarian and international literature which can then be used to draw macro-economic conclusions and be tested through Hungary’s example. We have identified four main indicators, which are: (1) income, (2) savings, (3) external funds (loans) and (4) the economy’s demand for cash. A number of criticisms can be raised in connection with the above indicators, most importantly the fact that the perception of financial litera-cy is overly linked to income. In spite of this, all these indicators are conducive to providing information on one of the financial lit-eracy-related issues (self-provision, confidence, planning, long-term thinking, profitability, etc.)

Financial personality types in Hungary - research methods and results

The objective of our study is to determine the characteristic features according to which an individual can be evaluated from the aspect of his/her financial culture. People filling in the questionnaire consisting of 36 questions may determine how much they can be characterised by individual features or behaviours. We worked with two types of personality profiles. One of them was compiled by the author of the test (preliminarily defined personality profile). In this case, respondents get feedback on the results they achieved in each pre-defined dimension (Price-sensitive, Economizing, Moderate, Saver, Diligent, Controls his finances). Among these dimensions, awareness and diligence are positive preliminary indications of the level of the person’s financial culture. The high level of saving and price-sensitivity did not correlate with good results achieved in other personality dimensions. In addition, we elaborated another personality profile obtained in empirical way. In order to establish the dimensions, we performed factor analysis. The established dimensions are: Short of cash, Economizing; Money-devouring; Order creates value; Price-sensitive; Collector; Planner; Ups and downs; Diligent and Cannot control his finances

Analysis of Employees Emigration in Hungary

At the beginning of the 21st century the European Union faces the greatest challenge in its history. Several problems were raised due to the joining of new member countries to the EU, one of which – the free movement of people – was the most important. The 15 EU member-states, with fears of the cheap labour of the ten joining countries, in 2003 introduced days of grace for seven years to restrict the free movement of labour. However the majority of basic rights came into being before the joining to EU, the free movement of people and rather the free movement of employees became a question of serious debates. Facts did not prove these fears even in the case of France where the fi gure of a Polish mechanic became a topic of voting campaign in 2005. The expected wave of migrant workers never arrived consequently; countries having opened their labour marked after 1 May 2004 were out of danger. At the same time the areas that lost their inhabitants started to decline in terms of both economy and society. This is one of the main reasons for revitalization, which could support the improvement of socio-economic factors of rural areas, decreasing the unfavourable effects of migration.  The newer reconsideration of the transition period is coming at an early date; we made a quantitative research with face to face method in Hungary in August 2008. In the questionnaire we analyzed the migration potential of the Hungarian people with 1200 members national representative sampling

Analysis of the Factors that Influence the Financial Literacy of Young People Studying in Higher Education

Financial literacy and the need to improve it are getting more attention as a result of the economic crisis. The effectiveness of the programmes that target the improvement of financial literacy depends on knowing what factors influence people’s financial knowledge. This is exactly the reason why, using the data of the Financial Literacy Research Programme coordinated by the State Audit Office of Hungary, we investigated how the different demographic and educational features of students studying in higher education influence their financial literacy. Our results show that the financial knowledge of young people exhibit significant differences according to the measured criteria. Males, older people, people with a higher income and young people whose income is covered by their family only to a small extent are typically characterised by more advanced financial literacy. The results demonstrate that the financial-economic knowledge acquired in higher education has a beneficial impact on the financial knowledge of young people; on the other hand, the type of training and studies does not have any significant effect. Our analyses also revealed that the teaching of financial-economic topics in secondary school does not have any influence on the level of young people’s financial knowledge. The students participating in the study performed better in answering theoretical questions than in the case of practical questions. It is also true of theoretical and practical financial knowledge that males, older people, those who pursue economic studies or who are attend these kinds of courses at university know more about financial matters. At the same time, there are certain differences too. Income and its ratio which comes from the family show a significant correlation only in connection with practical knowledge, while as far as economic training is concerned in secondary schools, we can establish that it exerts a significant – positive – influence only on theoretical knowledge. When examining the educational criteria we found that the economic nature of the training correlates significantly with practical knowledge, while the number of semesters spent on studying subjects related to economics has a stronger positive influence on theoretical knowledge. The results reveal the need for a re form in the teaching of financial-economic knowledge and the introduction of programmes that can generate interest in financial matters

Tanárok pénzügyi kultúrája

A kutatás célja a különböző szakon oktató pedagógusok (N=752) pénzügyi ismereteinek, attitűdjeinek, magabiztosságának, viselkedésének és motivációinak feltárása. A felmérés különösen fontos, mivel az ő tudásuk, attitűdjük és viselkedésük hatással van az általuk oktatott diákok pénzügyi tudatosságára. Az eredmények a feltételezettnél magasabb szintű pénzügyi tudást jeleznek, feltárva, hogy a tanárok pénzügyi tájékozottsága magasabb szintű, mint a felsőoktatásban tanuló hallgatóké. A megkérdezettek 86 százalékának van megtakarítása, amit bankbetétek mellett, állampapírban, illetve egyéb, összetettebb megtakarítási formákban tartanak, ez magas szintű pénzügyi tudatosságra és bevonódásra utal. A tanárok saját pénzügyi tudásukat magasra értékelik, ezzel együtt a felsőoktatásban tanulókhoz hasonlóan kockázatkerülők. Túlnyomó többségük fontosnak tartja a pénzügyi kultúra iskolai fejlesztését. A pénzügyikultúra-képzéseknek mérhetően pozitív hatása van a résztvevők tudásszintjére. A kutatás eredményei alapján érdemes tehát a tanárok pénzügyi tudatosságára és motivációjára építve alakítani a tanterveket és a követelményrendszert