Financial Literacy: Yes Please
July 6th, 2007In the latest RBNZ Bulletin, alongside a paper on the transmission mechanism of monetary policy, there is a paper on financial literacy and how important this is for society as a whole. Hurrah! Well almost.
I was very excited about this paper as i think financial literacy if absolutely crucial to our education system and the success of our society. However, when I read through it I felt some disappointment because the missed the most important bit out.
Money itself: What is it? How is it made? How much of it is there? How can it be created and destroyed…………and the best one: Who makes it?
Alas it focused on issues like the time value of money, risk, return, arithmetic and stuff like that. All very good and a positive step forward but it’s not enough.
This is not unexpected though. Whenever I interrogate any government official on the issue of money their eyes glaze over or they simply express incomprehension as to what IÂ am going on about.
There is only one political party in NZ that understand this issue and that is the Democrats for Social Credit. They are having a conference in Christchurch this weekend and you would probably learn more from that than reading the RBNZ bulletin.
Let’s have it RBNZ!
You have made a good start but let’s have full disclosure on our money system. You know it makes sense.
Tags: central banks, education, money, reserve bank of new zealand
July 8th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Couldn’t agree more!
http://benkepes.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/financial-literacy-for-young-uns/