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Annamaria Lusardi, a world-renowned expert on financial literacy, has joined the ��ɫ��Ӱ faculty as a SIEPR senior fellow.

In addition to having her primary appointment at the ��ɫ��Ӱ Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Lusardi will also be a professor of finance (by courtesy) at ��ɫ��Ӱ Graduate School of Business. She will also serve as director of the newly established Financial Freedom Initiative, a collaboration between SIEPR, the GSB, and the ��ɫ��Ӱ Economics Department. Her appointment was effective Sept. 1. [UPDATE: The Financial Freedom Initiative was renamed the Initiative for Financial Decision-Making in March 2024.]

Lusardi has pioneered scholarship on personal finance education. She comes to ��ɫ��Ӱ from The George Washington University, where she was a professor of economics and accountancy. Previously, she was the Joel Z. and Susan Hyatt Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College, where she started her academic career. She has also taught at Princeton University; the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and Booth School of Business; and Columbia Business School.

“I am thrilled to welcome Annamaria to SIEPR and to the entire ��ɫ��Ӱ community,” said Mark Duggan, the Trione Director of SIEPR. “Her contributions to the field of financial literacy are already legendary, and I’m excited to see how collaborations with her new ��ɫ��Ӱ colleagues will propel her research, teaching, and policy impact to even greater heights.”

Among the most-cited scholars on financial literacy, one of Lusardi’s best-known studies — — documented how poorly equipped many people are to handle their personal finances and how most existing financial literacy education programs fail them.

At George Washington, Lusardi founded the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) and served as its academic director. The Center is moving to ��ɫ��Ӱ and will be housed at the GSB. She is also the founder and inaugural editor of the Journal of Financial Literacy and Wellbeing, a new academic journal published by Cambridge University Press.

"Annamaria is a leading expert on financial literacy, and deeply committed to broadening access to financial education and decision-making skills," said Jonathan Levin, dean of the GSB and a SIEPR senior fellow. "Her arrival will help to put ��ɫ��Ӱ at the forefront of this important area."

Along with her research agenda, Lusardi directed a government-supported effort in Italy to design a national strategy for financial literacy. She also served as faculty advisor for the Office of Financial Education at the U.S. Treasury. Currently, she chairs the research committee of the OECD-International Network on Financial Education.