On today's episode we hear a rebroadcast of the 2025 UMBC Mullen Lecture, sponsored by UMBC's Center for Social Science Scholarship and the UMBC Department of Economics. This year's lecture was delivered by Dr. Annamaria Lusardi. Dr. Lusardi is Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Director of the Initiative for Financial Decision-Making, and Professor (by courtesy) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Dr. Lusardi’s remarks take up the question of financial literacy among ordinary people around the world. In the talk, we learn about how much people know about personal finance, who is most vulnerable to economic predations due to their lack of financial literacy, and what we can do about it.

• The UMBC Center for the Social Sciences Scholarship
• The University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• Ian G. Anson, Ph.D.

Retrieving the Social Sciences is a production of the UMBC Center for Social Science Scholarship. Our podcast host is Dr. Ian Anson, our director is Dr. Eric Stokan, and our production intern is Jean Kim. Our theme music was composed and recorded by D’Juan Moreland. Special thanks to Amy Barnes and Myriam Ralston for production assistance. Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, where you can find full video recordings of recent UMBC events.