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Canadian Gender Gap in Financial Literacy: Confidence Matters

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  • Raquel Fonseca
  • Simon Lord

Abstract

We construct a financial literacy index as well as a financial confidence index in order to evaluate the effect of confidence on financial literacy, and more specifically, on the gender gap in financial literacy. Results confirm the existence of a gender gap in financial literacy in Canada, and show that having a higher confidence in one’s financial skills and knowledge is indeed a factor that increases one’s financial literacy. Financial confidence is found not to track actual financial skills very closely across different ages, especially for women, and at older ages. We also find evidence that financial literacy and decision making are related to the relative education level of spouses. Using the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, confidence is also found to explain 14.15% of the gender gap in financial literacy, while being self-employed explains 19% of the gap, and taking part in the financial planning accounts for 16.76% of the gender gap difference. We find that most of the gap remains unexplained by differences in coefficients of men and women.

Suggested Citation

  • Raquel Fonseca & Simon Lord, 2019. "Canadian Gender Gap in Financial Literacy: Confidence Matters," Cahiers de recherche / Working Papers 1905, Chaire de recherche sur les enjeux économiques intergénérationnels / Research Chair in Intergenerational Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:rsi:creeic:1905
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    2. Man Yao & Tori I. Rehr & Erica P. Regan, 2023. "Gender Differences in Financial Knowledge among College Students: Evidence from a Recent Multi-institutional Survey," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 693-713, September.
    3. Raquel Fonseca & Marie Mélanie Fontaine & Catherine Haeck, 2021. "Le lien entre les compétences en numératie et les rendements sur le marché du travail au Québec," CIRANO Project Reports 2021rp-11, CIRANO.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender; Financial Literacy; Financial Confidence.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G0 - Financial Economics - - General
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General

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