IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v52y2020i21p2261-2279.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

National culture and financial literacy: international evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Muzaffarjon Ahunov
  • Leo Van Hove

Abstract

We examine to what extent (aspects of) national culture can explain cross-country variations in financial literacy. Our results, for a sample of 92 countries, show that Hofstede’s dimensions of power distance and individualism explain, respectively, over 40 and 60 per cent – which is substantially more than national cognitive scores and standard economic variables. In particular, we find that financial literacy is lower in countries where power distance is high, and that the opposite is true for individualism. Uncertainty avoidance would seem be negatively related with financial literacy, but the evidence is not so strong. For masculinity, indulgence, and long-term orientation we find no significant impact. Overall, our results highlight the need for additional (interdisciplinary) theories that can improve our understanding of the determinants of financial literacy and better guide policies in this area.

Suggested Citation

  • Muzaffarjon Ahunov & Leo Van Hove, 2020. "National culture and financial literacy: international evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(21), pages 2261-2279, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:52:y:2020:i:21:p:2261-2279
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2019.1688241
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2019.1688241
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2019.1688241?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Nicole Jonker & Anneke Kosse, 2020. "The interplay of financial education, financial literacy, financial inclusion and financial, stability: Any lessons for the current Big Tech era?," Working Papers 692, DNB.
    2. Andrej Cupák & Pirmin Fessler & Maria Silgoner & Elisabeth Ulbrich, 2021. "Exploring Differences in Financial Literacy Across Countries: The Role of Individual Characteristics and Institutions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 409-438, December.
    3. Lo Prete, Anna, 2024. "Political participation and financial education: Understanding personal and collective tradeoffs for a better citizenship," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    4. Muzaffarjon Ahunov & Leo Van Hove, 2020. "National culture and (dis)trust in banks: Cross‐country evidence," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 49(3), September.
    5. Zhang, Cong & Mehmood, Rashid & Palma, Alessia & Wang, Zhen, 2024. "The impact of culture and religion on financing decisions: Moderating role of CSR," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PB).
    6. Ooi, Elizabeth, 2023. "Culture and confidence in financial knowledge testing," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    7. Kenneth De Beckker & Kristof De Witte & Geert Van Campenhout, 2020. "The role of national culture in financial literacy: Cross‐country evidence," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 912-930, September.
    8. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chen, Mei-Ping & Xing, Wenwu, 2022. "Do national cultures matter for tourism development? Some international evidence," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 666-686.
    9. Kristjan Pulk & Leonore Riitsalu, 2024. "Youth in individualistic countries have higher financial literacy: Evidence from PISA," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 432-450, June.
    10. Leo Van Hove & Muzaffarjon Ahunov, 2024. "How reliable are financial-literacy country rankings?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 44(4), pages 1457-1463.
    11. Yanna He & Muzaffarjon Ahunov, 2022. "Financial Literacy: The Case of China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(5), pages 75-101, September.
    12. Piotr Bialowolski & Jing Jian Xiao & Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska, 2023. "National Culture and Financial Capability: A Global Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 877-891, December.
    13. Szilárd Heged?s & Csaba Lentner, 2024. "Examining financial literacy and the financial aspects of Hofstede's four-factor culture model in Hungary," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 19(1), pages 1-20, Enero - M.
    14. Kotkowski, Radoslaw, 2023. "National culture and the demand for physical money during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    15. Fetherolf, Raylin & Lovelace, Kelley Bergsma, 2023. "Dimensions of national culture and R2 around the world," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    16. Davoli, Maddalena & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2021. "Preferences, Financial Literacy, and Economic Development," IZA Discussion Papers 14759, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Shishir Shakya & Nabamita Dutta, 2024. "How Individualism Influences Female Financial Inclusion through Education: Evidence from Historical Prevalence of Infectious Diseases," Working Papers 24-03, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    18. Shishir Shakya & Nabamita Dutta, 2024. "How Individualism Influences Female Financial Inclusion through Education: Evidence from Historical Prevalence of Infectious Diseases," Working Papers 24-07, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:applec:v:52:y:2020:i:21:p:2261-2279. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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.