A grant from the European Research Council (ERC) has been awarded to Miguel Ferreira, Full Professor and Vice-Dean of Nova School of Business & Economics (Nova SBE). The school thus remains the only institution in Portugal to receive ERC funding in the fields of economics, finance and management (panel SH1 – Individuals, Markets and Organisations).
The project FINANCEforALL has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant, the first ever granted in Portugal within this panel. The study aims to assess the impact of financial literacy training on the Portuguese working population, analysing not only the direct effects on individuals’ financial knowledge and behaviour, but also the indirect impacts on their co-workers, companies and local economies.
“Financial education is essential for the well-being of families and the resilience of economies. This project will make it possible, for the first time, to rigorously and on a large scale understand the real effects of financial literacy in workplace and regional contexts,” says the Nova SBE researcher.
The research, led by Miguel Ferreira — who also holds the Banco BPI–“la Caixa” Foundation Chair in Responsible Finance and coordinates the financial literacy programme Finanças para Todos at Nova SBE — represents a landmark in economic research in Portugal.
The project will adopt an innovative experimental design, with interventions in municipalities, companies and workplaces, combining surveys with unique administrative data — such as credit records, tax data, property ownership and banking transactions — to measure short- and long-term effects in areas such as income, consumption, savings, employment and entrepreneurship. The project involves partnerships with the Bank of Portugal and the National Statistics Institute (INE).
This will be the first time, at international level, that a comprehensive analysis is conducted on the effects of financial literacy in the workplace, offering a new perspective on its economic and social impact.
“This recognition confirms the excellence of NOVA’s researchers and their commitment to producing research with a positive impact on society. I would like to congratulate Nova SBE and Professor Miguel Ferreira on this achievement,” says Isabel Rocha, Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation and Value Creation at NOVA University Lisbon.
This is the third ERC grant awarded to Nova SBE, following the Starting Grants obtained by Miguel Ferreira in 2012 and Alex Armand in 2021.
With this new distinction, the total number of ERC grants awarded to NOVA researchers across a wide range of fields since 2007 rises to 39.