Financial Literacy among the Young: Evidence and Implications for Consumer Policy

Annamaria Lusardi (), Olivia Mitchell and Vilsa Curto ()
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Vilsa Curto: NBER

No 91, CeRP Working Papers from Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy)

Abstract: We examined financial literacy among the young using data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We showed that financial literacy is low among the young; fewer than one-third of young adults possess basic knowledge of interest rates, inflation, and risk diversification. Financial literacy is strongly related to sociodemographic characteristics and family financial sophistication. Specifically, a college-educated male whose parents had stocks and retirement savings is about 50 percentage points more likely to know about risk diversification than a female with less than a high school education whose parents were not wealthy. These findings have implications for consumer policy.

Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2009-09
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Financial literacy among the young: Evidence and implications for consumer policy (2010)
Working Paper: Financial Literacy among the Young: Evidence and Implications for Consumer Policy (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:crp:wpaper:91

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