Abstract
The chapter examines the notion of cumulative vs. noncumulative knowledge as it applies to the financial literacy. The mass public education programs may have a tendency to curricularize knowledge, which means shifting knowledge from cumulative, descriptive kinds closer to noncumulative or normative kind. When certain claims cross the border from cumulative, descriptive realm into the noncumulative, normative realm, they become vulnerable to rejection and may compromise large bodies of cumulative knowledge that support the normative claims. We should use the pragmatic and institutionalist epistemological thinking to prevent this from happening. We must know how institutions operate in the real world, and what are the likely unintended consequences of the curricularization of knowledge.