Financial Literacy among the Young: Evidence and Implications for Consumer Policy / Annamaria Lusardi, Olivia S. Mitchell, Vilsa Curto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lusardi, Annamaria.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Mitchell, Olivia S.

Curto, Vilsa.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w15352.

NBER working paper series no. w15352

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Financial Literacy among the Young

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2009.

Summary:

We examined financial literacy among the young using data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We showed that financial literacy is low among the young; fewer than one-third of young adults possess basic knowledge of interest rates, inflation, and risk diversification. Financial literacy is strongly related to sociodemographic characteristics and family financial sophistication. Specifically, a college-educated male whose parents had stocks and retirement savings is about 50 percentage points more likely to know about risk diversification than a female with less than a high school education whose parents were not wealthy. These findings have implications for consumer policy.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2009.