Elliott James completed his MPP at Harvard Kennedy School in 2019. Elliott is from Australia and has a background in economics, having worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia for almost ten years. Find Elliott on LinkedIn.

PAE: Helping Young Adults Invest Smarty | Client: Government of Australia

We partnered with a consumer website in Australia to encourage young adults to invest smartly. Compared with older Australians, young Australians tend to perform worse on tests of financial literacy, report being less motivated to invest their money, and are less likely to hold investments. These differences between younger and older adults are particularly pronounced for young women. Using insights from behavioral science, analysis of several large datasets, and online experiments, we recommended changes to the website aimed at correcting misconceptions about investing; rebalancing perceptions of risk; and countering gender stereotypes and norms around consumer finance.