Testing the Relationship Between Confidence and Effort: A Behavioral Finance Perspective on the Problem of Financial Literacy

This experimental study tested the relationship between confidence and effort with the ultimate objective of discovering how these factors may influence financial literacy. This was done through a modified version of a slider test and ball allocation task. The population consisted of 85 random participants who were primarily approached through social media. A simple OLS regression, along with robustness checks, namely the Tobit model and instrumental variable (IV) regression model using Tobit estimators, were utilized to confirm the causal relationship between confidence and effort

Teaching Math with Confidence-Recommendations for Improving Numeracy from the Lens of Confidence Building

Despite the vast amount of literature surrounding the topic of financial literacy and related problems, there is still no universally accepted solution to this issue because the main factors causing financial literacy problems are still not fully understood both by researchers and current policy-makers. A possible new approach was discovered by Skagerlund et al. (2018), as their research suggested that financial literacy is driven by numeracy (the ability to process and perform basic numerical concepts and calculations) rather than direct knowledge about financial concepts. Given that numeracy is an effort based task, this policy brief provides a list of recommendations for developing numeracy from the standpoint of motivating effort to practice and improve the numeracy and mathematical skills of people for them to have the tools necessary to become financially literate, which may be more effective than creating a dedicated course on the topic of financial literacy. The results of the study confirmed that effort is indeed motivated by higher levels of confidence. Furthermore, information, particularly feedback regarding performance, plays a crucial role in shaping future confidence and, by extension, future levels of motivation and effort. Guided by these findings, this brief proposes the following policy recommendations

Determinants of wage and employment disparities for TVET and High School graduates

Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) was institutionalized by the Philippine government in order to fill in the gaps left by the higher education system in transitioning students to the formal workforce. However, recent studies suggest that TVET graduates have a difficult time gaining employment and wage increases because of skills supply and demand mismatches and the devaluation of TVET degrees. The mismatch is observed through the high unemployment rates of TVET graduates and various job availabilities that could not be filled up by these graduates due to the incompatibility of skills formation with job requirements which is evident in several sectors including ICT, Health Services, Agriculture, and Tourism. This paper used Naive Bayesian Regression and Propensity Score Matching methods to measure the direction and magnitude of labor market outcome differentials between TVET and High School graduates, as well as the Blinder Oaxaca Decomposition to measure how much endogenous and exogenous sources explain said wage and employment differentials

Philippine Structural Transformation - With or Without Maharlika

It appears the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) is a fait accompli. As we write, our finance officials are in New York and Toronto, pitching the MIF to international bankers and representatives of Middle East sovereign wealth funds. This means once President Marcos, Jr. affixes his signature, a newly-created Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC) will pool, before the year is over, PhP 75 billion in seed capital from the LandBank and Development Bank of the Philippines. With a further PhP 50 billion plus two full years of dividends from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), its nine directors, all presidential appointees, will be able to invest in tradable commodities, overseas instruments, and local development projects to earn dual bottom line returns — financial and social — for the country

Loob: Indigeneous, prosocial, and normative rationality in a dictator game

This work offers a modest two part contribution to the ongoing project to social homo economics. Part 1 argues that Alejo (1990) phenomenological reflections on loob, a Filipino term for personhood, are compatible with the emerging literature on neuroeconomics and amenable to empirical investigation. Part 2 tests specific claims about loob in a dictator game experiment conducted among 480 low income trilingual students in a rural municipality in Camarines Sur. The unusually high incidence of hyper fair offers seems consistent with a self other conception of personhood albeit one that does not appear sensitive to priming. A robust language effect was also found when instructions were coded in English as opposed to Tagalog and Bikol, but one that worked in unexpected ways

Strong reciprocity, cooperation, focal rules and deontological virtues

Strong reciprocity, or the willingness of players to act as conditional cooperators who punish bad behaviour and reward good behaviour may be a more sophisticated explanation for the evolution of cooperation than folk theorems, but critics have argued that it is maladaptive and thus unable to account for the survival of cooperation within large, motivationally heterogenous populations. Antoci & Zarri\u27s evolutionary model based upon the interaction of certain focal types shows the conditions under which survival becomes possible - but concludes somewhat disturbingly that altruistic rewarding and punishing behaviour ( strong reciprocation ) leads to a social equilibrium in which all agents become selfish. I examine the logic of their main arguments with reference to two other models of other-regarding preferences and conclude that in each case, there is a reason to investigate the role of deontological virtues and focal rules

Open/distance learning and the changing labour market: Toward a framework for rethinking educational governance structures

The progressive liberalisation of the Philippine economy has produced a domestic labour market characterised by increasing contractualisation and diminished security of tenure. Re-taining and continuing education have been suggested as the basis for a viable safety net system. We argue that while distance learning holds promise as a means of maintaining Filipino competitiveness, its administration must be rationalised and implemented within the context of more wide-ranging reforms within the education sector. In addition, open and distance learning may, in fact, facilitate the reform process itself, particularly in the areas of improving teaching competence, increasing the preparedness of students for higher education, establishing a more uniform accreditation system, as well as updating and harmonising standards for professional services