Lewis Mandell

Financial Literacy of High School Students

Five, large-scale, biennial national surveys of high school seniors from 1997 to 2006 have been used to measure the financial literacy of young American adults. The results show a low level of ability to make age-appropriate financial decisions in their own self-interests. Low baseline results in 1997 have further deteriorated with scores on the 31-question, multiple choice exam now hovering just over 50 %. Students from families with greater financial resources tend to be substantially more financially literate than those from families that are less well-off, thereby exacerbating the inequality of economic welfare among families. Moreover, high school classes in personal finance and money management have not proven to be effective in raising levels of financial literacy.

A Modal Search Technique for Predictive Nominal Scale Multivariate Analysis

Abstract A method is proposed in which a statistic, Θ, is used as a probabilistic measure of strength of association in the multivariate prediction of a nominal scale by nominal and/or ordinal scales. The relationship of theta to the bivariate Goodman and Kruskals Lambda statistic is given. An algorithm using the theta statistic as criterion in an exhaustive search and optimal stepwise binary split procedure is described. A computer program and sample results are discussed.

Financial Literacy in the U.S. and Efforts Toward Credit Education

In 1997, a baseline measure of the personal financial literacy of American high school seniors was taken through an examination of 1,532 students in the 1997 Personal Financial Survey of High School Seniors.1 The results of this nationally-representative sample were summarized in Mandell (1998). He found a generally low level of personal financial literacy characterized by an average test score of just 57.3 percent.

Abstract: Monitoring Discrimination in Housing-Related Lending

During 1976 and 1977, a national sample of nearly 300 FDIC-insured financial institutions had their applications for home mortgage and home improvement loans monitored. The purpose of the study was to establish whether, and in what form, discrimination existed in the granting of housing-related loans.