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Who's in? Household-targeted Government Policies and the Role of Financial Literacy in Market Participation

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  • Maria Elena Filippin

Abstract

This paper examines how household-targeted government policies influence financial market participation conditional on financial literacy, focusing on potential Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) adoption. Due to the lack of empirical CBDC data, I use the introduction of retail Treasury bonds in Italy as a proxy to investigate how financial literacy affects households' likelihood to engage with the new instrument. Using the Bank of Italy's Survey on Household Income and Wealth, I explore how financial literacy influenced households' participation in the Treasury bond market following the 2012 introduction of retail Treasury bonds, showing that households with some but low financial literacy are more likely to participate than other household groups. Based on these findings, I develop a theoretical model to explore the potential implications of financial literacy for CBDC adoption, showing that low-literate households with limited access to risky assets allocate more wealth to CBDC, while high-literate households use risky assets to safeguard against income risk. These results highlight the role of financial literacy in shaping portfolio choices and CBDC adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Elena Filippin, 2025. "Who's in? Household-targeted Government Policies and the Role of Financial Literacy in Market Participation," Papers 2506.12575, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2506.12575
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    1. Luc Arrondel & Laura Bartiloro & Pirmin Fessler & Peter Lindner & Thomas Y. Mathä & Cristiana Rampazzi & Frédérique Savignac & Tobias Schmidt & Martin Schürz & Philip Vermeulen, 2016. "How Do Households Allocate Their Assets? Stylized Facts from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 12(2), pages 129-220, June.
    2. David Andolfatto, 2021. "Assessing the Impact of Central Bank Digital Currency on Private Banks," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(634), pages 525-540.
    3. Luigi Guiso & Tullio Jappelli, 2005. "Awareness and Stock Market Participation," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 9(4), pages 537-567.
    4. Angrisani, Marco & Burke, Jeremy & Lusardi, Annamaria & Mottola, Gary, 2023. "The evolution of financial literacy over time and its predictive power for financial outcomes: evidence from longitudinal data," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 640-657, October.
    5. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-01379262 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Philippe Bacchetta & Elena Perazzi, 2021. "CBDC as Imperfect Substitute for Bank Deposits: A Macroeconomic Perspective," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 21-81, Swiss Finance Institute.
    7. Li, Jiaqi, 2023. "Predicting the demand for central bank digital currency: A structural analysis with survey data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 73-85.
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