American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Financial Knowledge and Financial Literacy at the Household Level
American Economic Review
vol. 102,
no. 3, May 2012
(pp. 309–13)
Abstract
There is evidence of a relation between numeracy and wealth held outside of pensions and Social Security. With pensions and Social Security accounting for half of wealth at retirement, and evidence that those with pensions save more in other forms, one would expect to find knowledge of pensions and Social Security influencing retirement saving. Yet we find no evidence that knowledge of pensions and Social Security is related to nonpension, non-Social Security wealth, to numeracy, or that it plays an intermediate role in the numeracy-wealth relation. Our findings raise questions about policies that would enhance numeracy to increase retirement saving.Citation
Gustman, Alan L., Thomas L. Steinmeier, and Nahid Tabatabai. 2012. "Financial Knowledge and Financial Literacy at the Household Level." American Economic Review, 102 (3): 309–13. DOI: 10.1257/aer.102.3.309Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D14 Personal Finance
- D31 Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions