Financial self-efficacy, or the perceived ability to succeed in managing one's personal financial affairs, is fundamental to effective consumer financial decision making. However, little is known about how to improve consumers' financial self-efficacy and which consumers are more or less responsive to potential policy interventions. We address these questions through an experimental study among US consumers. We find that asking consumers to recall and analyze successful (unsuccessful) experiences regarding the management of their personal finances is associated with higher (lower) financial self-efficacy. We provide insight into the underlying process of this effect through moderation and mediation analyses. In particular, we show that the effect of a recall and analyze intervention utilizing a successful previous experience is more pronounced for consumers with a more optimistic personality. Finally, consumers who develop greater financial self-efficacy as a result of our intervention display more self-control, leading to a higher financial planning propensity and actual planning.

中文翻译：

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让你的过去定义你的未来？回忆成功的财务经验如何提高财务规划中的自我效能感

财务自我效能，或成功管理个人财务事务的感知能力，是有效的消费者财务决策的基础。然而，关于如何提高消费者的财务自我效能以及哪些消费者对潜在的政策干预或多或少的反应知之甚少。我们通过一项针对美国消费者的实验研究来解决这些问题。我们发现，要求消费者回忆和分析成功（不成功）的个人财务管理经验与较高（较低）的财务自我效能感相关。我们通过调节和中介分析深入了解这种影响的潜在过程。特别是，我们表明，对于具有更乐观个性的消费者而言，利用成功的先前经验进行召回和分析干预的效果更为明显。最后，由于我们的干预而产生更大财务自我效能感的消费者表现出更多的自我控制，从而导致更高的财务规划倾向和实际规划。