Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/338348 
Year of Publication: 
2026
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 12384
Publisher: 
Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research - CESifo GmbH, Munich
Abstract: 
Financial literacy is an important prerequisite for making informed financial decisions, but it remains low, especially among women and older people. Internalized stereotypes can undermine confidence and subsequently affect behavior in financial matters, leading to suboptimal decisions. This paper investigates how stereotype salience affects confidence in financial literacy. In an information provision experiment, we inform respondents about age or gender differences in numeracy to examine the impact on financial literacy, confidence, hypothetical investment and saving decisions, and demand for information and education. We find that being informed about age differences has no significant effect. In contrast, being informed about gender differences increases the confidence of male respondents through a stereotype boost, while leaving female respondents largely unaffected.
Subjects: 
survey experiment
numeracy
gender stereotypes
age stereotypes
JEL: 
C90
D91
G53
I24
J16
Document Type: 
Working Paper
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.