Children and Money

Money (usually interpreted as currency) is a cultural tool that helps organize ways in which we engage with one another. Learning what it is and how to use it are important developmental milestones. The study of children and money reflects the efforts and contributions of many researchers across several disciplines including psychology, sociology, social work, marketing, and anthropology—thus understanding how children develop their ideas about money, how these ideas change over time, and how children emerge as autonomous economic agents is an interdisciplinary endeavor. The work included in this bibliography covers topics ranging from when children come to know what money is and how to use it, to when and how children come to break into the market and recognize and follow its rules, to understanding the robustness of developmental trends across different populations of children. In this way, the work referenced below reflects both basic and applied efforts. This bibliography is organized into seven sections. The first, General Overviews on Children and Money, highlights key books on this topic that serve as good starting points when first approaching this research area. The second, Foundations of Money Understanding, centers on work examining the development of children’s basic understanding of money (e.g., what money is and how to use it). The third, Using Money: Spending and Saving, presents work examining how children come to use money in the real world and play economies (i.e., small markets created for laboratory studies). The fourth, Economic Socialization and Financial Literacy, highlights work examining the influence of early experiences on later financial health outcomes and behaviors. The fifth, Understanding Market Forces, centers on children’s understanding of economic causation (i.e., the effect market forces have on each other—for example, as demand increases, supply decreases, and price increases). The sixth, Money Cues and Decision Making, presents work documenting ways in which the presence of money influences behaviors. The seventh, Money and Culture, reports on the developmental trends across different populations of children. The purpose of this bibliography is to introduce the topic of children and money and set the stage for a deeper line of inquiry; it is in no way exhaustive. Related topics, such as children’s understanding of poverty and economic equality, are not included; these require their own bibliographies. Additionally, with few exceptions, the work included focuses on studies and experiments involving children. For that reason, exclusive examinations of parents’ ideas about children and money are largely not included. In short, use this bibliography as a starting point to a much richer exploration of this topic.