Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/264812 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 220
Publisher: 
Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB), Vienna
Abstract: 
We examine recently compiled microdata from the OECD/INFE survey covering information on the financial literacy of adult individuals from twelve countries around the globe. We find large differences in financial literacy across countries and decompose them into those explainable by differences in individual characteristics and those that cannot be explained by such differences. We show that individual characteristics matter with regard to differences in average financial literacy, but do not fully explain the observed differences. We further relate the unexplained differences in our microeconometric analysis to institutional differences across countries. We find strong relationships between the differences in financial literacy not explained by individual characteristics and life expectancy, social contribution rate, PISA math scores, internet usage, and to a lesser degree by GDP per capita, the gross enrolment ratio and stock market capitalization. Our results suggest that there is room for harmonization of economic environments across countries regarding decreasing inequality in the population's financial literacy.
Subjects: 
financial literacy gaps
inequality
decomposition analysis
counterfactual methods
personal finance
survey data
JEL: 
D14
D91
I20
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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