Can financial education programs alleviate household vulnerability to poverty? Evidence from the JinHui financial education project in China

Abstract This paper investigates whether the JinHui financial education project (i.e., a large‐scale financial education program in China) reduces household vulnerability to poverty. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies and the JinHui Financial Education project data from the China Foundation for Development of Financial Education, we find that the JinHui project significantly reduces household vulnerability to poverty. Our economic channel analyses find that the JinHui project alleviates household vulnerability to poverty through improving household risk management ability. Interestingly, our mechanism analyses find no evidence that increasing household income is a mechanism through which the JinHui project reduces household vulnerability to poverty.