Probably some of this could have been avoided if individuals (lenders as well as borrowers) had been better informed to make good financial decisions under conditions of uncertainty. This is something that continues to deserve attention in school curricula and in public information campaigns.
Disappointingly, though, from the international experience it does not seem to be easy to improve financial decision-making through programmes of financial literacy education. It is one thing to communicate facts about finance, quite another to overcome the mental hardwiring – observed at all levels of education – that gives the potential for disastrous outcomes. 3  Cf.