This paper investigates whether it is possible to improve the effectiveness of financial education programs by identifying in advance the individuals who should benefit from such initiatives. For this purpose, the paper exploits a survey involving about 4,000 individuals observed before and after the implementation of a financial education campaign conducted in Italy in 2021: about 3,000 received training, while the remainder of the sample were used as a control group.
Starting from a subgroup of the survey participants, a targeting algorithm was devised to identify the individuals who would benefit the most from a financial education program, using data observed before the start of the financial education campaign. The algorithm was then applied to the rest of the sample. Our findings show that, within this second group, the campaign has been effective only for the individuals targeted by the algorithm.
