Characterizing Financial and Statistical Literacy

Amalia Di Girolamo, Glenn W. Harrison, Morten Lau, J. Todd Swarthout

Research output: Working paperResearch

Abstract

We characterize the literacy of an individual in a domain by their elicited subjective belief distribution over the possible responses to a question posed in that domain. We consider literacy across several financial, economic and statistical domains. We find considerable demographic heterogeneity in the degree of literacy. We also characterize the degree of consistency within a sample about their knowledge, even when that knowledge is imperfect. We show how uncertainty
aversion might be a normatively attractive behavior for individuals who have imperfect literacy. Finally, we discuss extensions of our approach to characterize financial capability, the consequences of non-literacy, social literacy, and the information content of hypothetical survey measures of literacy.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationAtlanta, GA
PublisherGeorgia State University
Number of pages69
Publication statusPublished - 2013
SeriesExCEN Working Paper
Number2013-04

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