Public Financial Competence in Democratic Societies: Concept, Measurement, Evidence

Citizens participate in economic life not only as consumers and market participants. Through taxation, public expenditure, and democratic representation, they are involved in decisions concerning the production, financing, and allocation of public resources. Building on insights from public economics, public choice, and economic citizenship, this work develops a conceptual framework for identifying economic competences relevant to public decisions in democratic societies, bringing them together under the notion of “public financial competence” (PFC). In then examines the distribution of selected PFC components in the population, and their associations with civic-economic orientations. PCF is unevenly distributed across topics and socio-demographic groups, especially by age, education, and gender. Knowledge of public goods and public debt, as well as understanding democratic delegation are positively associated with civic attitudes, while recognizing the consequences of collective non-contribution is associated with tax morale and support for democracy.