nep-fle New Economics Papers
on Financial Literacy and Education
Issue of 2021‒03‒08
three papers chosen by



  1. Fearless girl: Women's financial literacy and stock market participation By Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Alessie, Rob; Lusardi, Annamaria; van Rooij, Maarten
  2. Finanzwissen und Finanzbildung in Deutschland: Was wissen wir eigentlich? By Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Knebel, Caroline
  3. Gender differences in financial advice By Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Hackethal, Andreas; Koenen, Johannes; Laudenbach, Christine

  1. By: Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Alessie, Rob; Lusardi, Annamaria; van Rooij, Maarten
    Abstract: Women are less financially literate than men. It is unclear whether this gap reflects a lack of knowledge or, rather, a lack of confidence. Our survey experiment shows that women tend to disproportionately respond 'do not know' to questions measuring financial knowledge, but when this response option is unavailable, they often choose the correct answer. We estimate a latent class model and predict the probability that respondents truly know the correct answers. We find that about one-third of the financial literacy gender gap can be explained by women's lower confidence levels. Both financial knowledge and confidence explain stock market participation.
    Keywords: financial knowledge,gender gap,financial decision making,confidence,measurement error,latent class model,finite mixture model
    JEL: G53 C81 D91
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21015&r=all
  2. By: Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Knebel, Caroline
    Abstract: Im internationalen Vergleich verfügen die Deutschen über ein relativ hohes Finanzwissen. Allerdings bedeutet dies nicht, dass Finanzwissen universell verbreitet ist. Der Anteil der Befragten, die drei grundlegende Fragen zu Zins, Inflation und Risikodiversifikation beantworten können, liegt zwischen 53% und 62%. Dieser Anteil liegt bei Frauen, älteren Menschen, Personen mit geringem Einkommen und geringer Bildung deutlich niedriger. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zeigen, dass sich Finanzwissen positiv auf Finanzentscheidungen auswirkt. Zudem können Finanzbildungsprogramme Finanzwissen und Finanzverhalten verbessern. In Deutschland gibt es bisher keine breit angelegte Financial Literacy-Strategie und damit auch keine gezielten Evaluationen und Qualitätssicherungsmaßnahmen für die angebotenen Programme. Eine solche Strategie könnte sowohl dazu beitragen Finanzentscheidungen Einzelner als auch die gesamtwirtschaftliche Stabilität zu verbessern.
    Keywords: Household finance,financial literacy,financial education,financial decision-making
    JEL: G53 C81 D91 D14
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21016&r=all
  3. By: Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Hackethal, Andreas; Koenen, Johannes; Laudenbach, Christine
    Abstract: We show that financial advisors recommend more costly products to female clients, based on minutes from about 27,000 real-world advisory meetings and client portfolio data. Funds recommended to women have higher expense ratios controlling for risk, and women less often receive rebates on upfront fees for any given fund. We develop a model relating these findings to client stereotyping, and empirically verify an additional prediction: Women (but not men) with higher financial aptitude reject recommendations more frequently. Women state a preference for delegating financial decisions, but appear unaware of associated higher costs. Evidence of stereotyping is stronger for male advisors.
    Keywords: credence goods,financial aptitude,consumer protection,financial literacy,discrimination
    JEL: G2 E2 D8
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:309&r=all

General information on the NEP project can be found at https://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.