IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijfss/v7y2019i3p54-d268768.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Assessment of Financial Literacy: New Evidence from Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Gianni Nicolini

    (Department of Management and Law, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy)

  • Marlene Haupt

    (Faculty of Social Work, Health and Care, Hochschule Ravensburg-Weingarten, 88250 Weingarten, Germany)

Abstract

The hypothesis that people with more financial literacy make better financial decisions and show positive financial behaviors is crucial for more than one stakeholder. A weak connection between financial literacy and financial behaviors jeopardizes the opportunity to invest in financial education and to develop a consumer protection framework based on the chance to develop aware and responsible financial consumers. This study uses data from different countries (Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, the UK), using surveys devised and fielded specifically to measure financial literacy and in order to assess if the availability of a broad set of items on financial literacy allows to develop new measures of financial literacy to better understand the relationship between financial literacy and financial behaviors. The well-established Lusardi–Mitchell questions are compared with measures that differ in terms of number of items (the “50-items” index), range of topics (the “5-specific” index), or selection process of the items (the “unbiased” index). Results support the hypothesis that the Lusardi–Mitchell questions remain a good measure in a first-step analysis, but a deeper understanding of the connection between financial literacy and financial behaviors benefits from the measures proposed in the study, that should be considered as additional assessment tools in financial literacy research.

Suggested Citation

  • Gianni Nicolini & Marlene Haupt, 2019. "The Assessment of Financial Literacy: New Evidence from Europe," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-20, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijfss:v:7:y:2019:i:3:p:54-:d:268768
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/7/3/54/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/7/3/54/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ivonne Honekamp, 2012. "Financial Literacy and Retirement Savings in Germany," NFI Working Papers 2012-WP-03, Indiana State University, Scott College of Business, Networks Financial Institute.
    2. van Rooij, Maarten & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob, 2011. "Financial literacy and stock market participation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 449-472, August.
    3. Angela Hung & Andrew Parker & Joanne K. Yoong, 2009. "Defining and Measuring Financial Literacy," Working Papers 708, RAND Corporation.
    4. Angela A. Hung & Andrew M. Parker & Joanne K. Yoong, 2009. "Defining and Measuring Financial Literacy," Working Papers WR-708, RAND Corporation.
    5. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2011. "Financial literacy around the world: an overview," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 497-508, October.
    6. Melissa A. Z. Knoll & Carrie R. Houts, 2012. "The Financial Knowledge Scale: An Application of Item Response Theory to the Assessment of Financial Literacy," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 381-410, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mostafa Saidur Rahim Khan & Pongpat Putthinun & Somtip Watanapongvanich & Pattaphol Yuktadatta & Md. Azad Uddin & Yoshihiko Kadoya, 2021. "Do Financial Literacy and Financial Education Influence Smoking Behavior in the United States?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Shunsuke Ono & Pattaphol Yuktadatta & Takafumi Taniguchi & Tomoe Iitsuka & Masafumi Noguchi & Sawa Tanaka & Haruka Ito & Kousei Nakamura & Nanako Yasuhara & Chihiro Miyawaki & Katsumi Mikura & Mostafa, 2021. "Financial Literacy and Exercise Behavior: Evidence from Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Ananthan Munisamy & Sheerad Sahid & Muhammad Hussin, 2022. "Socioeconomic Sustainability for Low-Income Households: The Mediating Role of Financial Well-Being," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-21, August.
    4. García-Pérez-de-Lema, Domingo & Ruiz-Palomo, Daniel & Diéguez-Soto, Julio, 2021. "Analysing the roles of CEO's financial literacy and financial constraints on Spanish SMEs technological innovation," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Qilong Zheng & Zhen Peng & Shun Ding, 2021. "Financial Literacy, Health Engagement, and Residents’ Health: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-18, April.
    6. Pattaphol Yuktadatta & Mostafa Saidur Rahim Khan & Yoshihiko Kadoya, 2021. "Financial Literacy and Exercise Behavior in the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-17, August.
    7. Ali, Muhammad Arsalan & Rehman, Khalil ur & Maqbool, Adnan & Hussain, Shahid, 2021. "The Impact of Behavioral Finance Factors and the Mediating Effect of Investment Behavior on Individual’s Financial Well-being: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Accounting and Finance in Emerging Economies, CSRC Publishing, Center for Sustainability Research and Consultancy Pakistan, vol. 7(2), pages 325-336, June.
    8. Azra Zaimovic & Anes Torlakovic & Almira Arnaut-Berilo & Tarik Zaimovic & Lejla Dedovic & Minela Nuhic Meskovic, 2023. "Mapping Financial Literacy: A Systematic Literature Review of Determinants and Recent Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-30, June.
    9. Pongpat Putthinun & Somtip Watanapongvanich & Mostafa Saidur Rahim Khan & Yoshihiko Kadoya, 2021. "Financial Literacy and Alcohol Drinking Behavior: Evidence from Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-13, August.
    10. Mirela Panait & Irina Radulescu & Alina Brezoi, 2020. "Financial Markets – Under the Sign of CSR. Some Evidences Regarding Financial Education," Book chapters-LUMEN Proceedings, in: Adriana Grigorescu & Valentin Radu (ed.), 1st International Conference Global Ethics - Key of Sustainability (GEKoS), edition 1, volume 11, chapter 11, pages 96-106, Editura Lumen.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rob Ranyard & Simon McNair & Gianni Nicolini & Darren Duxbury, 2020. "An item response theory approach to constructing and evaluating brief and in‐depth financial literacy scales," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 1121-1156, September.
    2. Irina Kunovskaya & Brenda Cude & Natalia Alexeev, 2014. "Evaluation of a Financial Literacy Test Using Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 516-531, December.
    3. Kadoya, Yoshihiko & Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim, 2020. "What determines financial literacy in Japan?," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 353-371, July.
    4. Oscar A. Stolper & Andreas Walter, 2017. "Financial literacy, financial advice, and financial behavior," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(5), pages 581-643, July.
    5. Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Annamaria Lusardi & Rob Alessie & Maarten van Rooij, 2017. "How Financially Literate Are Women? An Overview and New Insights," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 255-283, July.
    6. Tsun‐Feng Chiang, 2021. "Financial capability and investment management of Chinese households: An application of hybrid item response theory," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 1442-1463, December.
    7. Francisco J. Oliver-Márquez & Almudena Guarnido-Rueda & Ignacio Amate-Fortes, 2021. "Measuring financial knowledge: a macroeconomic perspective," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 177-222, February.
    8. Calcagno, Riccardo & Monticone, Chiara, 2015. "Financial literacy and the demand for financial advice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 363-380.
    9. Feng, Xiangnan & Lu, Bin & Song, Xinyuan & Ma, Shuang, 2019. "Financial literacy and household finances: A Bayesian two-part latent variable modeling approach," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 119-137.
    10. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-44, March.
    11. Maya Haran Rosen & Orly Sade, 2017. "Does Financial Regulation Unintentionally Ignore Less Privileged Populations? The Investigation of a Regulatory Fintech Advancement, Objective and Subjective Financial Literacy," Bank of Israel Working Papers 2017.10, Bank of Israel.
    12. Elisabeth Beckmann & Sarah Reiter, 2020. "How financially literate is CESEE? Insights from the OeNB Euro Survey," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q3/20, pages 36-59.
    13. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Anyfantaki, Sofia, 2021. "Financial literacy and its influence on internet banking behavior," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 658-674.
    14. Entorf, Horst & Hou, Jia, 2018. "Financial education for the disadvantaged? A review," SAFE Working Paper Series 205, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    15. Solomon Antwiagyei Kuffour & George Adu, 2019. "Financial Literacy, Trust and Stock Market Participation in Ghana," Economics Literature, WERI-World Economic Research Institute, vol. 1(2), pages 101-116, December.
    16. M. M. Naeser Seldal & Ellen K. Nyhus, 2022. "Financial Vulnerability, Financial Literacy, and the Use of Digital Payment Technologies," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 281-306, June.
    17. Wang, Hongyang & Zhang, Dayong & Guariglia, Alessandra & Fan, Gang-Zhi, 2021. "‘Growing out of the growing pain’: Financial literacy and life insurance demand in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    18. Ziyuan Lyu & Li Wei, 2021. "Information sources and participation in the Chinese insurance market: knowledge as a mediator," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 46(1), pages 79-106, January.
    19. Ester Muñoz-Céspedes & Raquel Ibar-Alonso & Sara de Lorenzo Ros, 2021. "Financial Literacy and Sustainable Consumer Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    20. French, Declan & McKillop, Donal, 2016. "Financial literacy and over-indebtedness in low-income households," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-11.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijfss:v:7:y:2019:i:3:p:54-:d:268768. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.