Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/141615 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9856
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We characterize the literacy of an individual in a domain by their elicited subjective belief distribution over the possible responses to a question posed in that domain. By eliciting the distribution, rather than just the answers to true/false or multiple choice questions, we can directly measure the confidence that an individual has about their knowledge of some fact. We consider literacy across several financial and economic domains. We find considerable demographic heterogeneity in the degree of literacy. We also measure the degree of consistency within a sample about their knowledge, even when that knowledge is imperfect.
Subjects: 
subjective beliefs
economic literacy
JEL: 
C91
D03
D83
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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