Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/231301 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 21-015
Publisher: 
ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung, Mannheim
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.
Subjects: 
financial knowledge
gender gap
financial decision making
confidence
measurement error
latent class model
finite mixture model
JEL: 
G53
C81
D91
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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