IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecorec/v100y2024i328p44-73.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When Does the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy Begin?

Author

Listed:
  • Alison Preston
  • Robert E. Wright

Abstract

Research to date has failed to generate a comprehensive understanding of the source of the gender gap in financial literacy in adulthood. Using microdata from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey and an analysis covering four age groups (15–19, 20–24, 25–29 and 30–34), this paper suggests that the gender gap starts young and well before individuals enter adulthood. The analysis also suggests that that raw (unadjusted) gender gap likely underestimates the underlying gap. It is important to establish whether the gap begins before or after children enter school, since policy aimed at addressing it would be very different.

Suggested Citation

  • Alison Preston & Robert E. Wright, 2024. "When Does the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy Begin?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 100(328), pages 44-73, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:100:y:2024:i:328:p:44-73
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-4932.12785
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4932.12785
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-4932.12785?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bottazzi, Laura & Lusardi, Annamaria, 2021. "Stereotypes in financial literacy: Evidence from PISA," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Bryce L. Jorgensen & David B. Allsop & Samuel D. Runyan & Brandan E. Wheeler & David A. Evans & Loren D. Marks, 2019. "Forming Financial Vision: How Parents Prepare Young Adults for Financial Success," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 553-563, September.
    3. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 789-865, September.
    4. Sergio Longobardi & Margherita Maria Pagliuca & Andrea Regoli, 2018. "Can problem-solving attitudes explain the gender gap in financial literacy? Evidence from Italian students’ data," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1677-1705, July.
    5. Alison C. Preston & Robert E. Wright, 2019. "Understanding the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy: Evidence from Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 95(S1), pages 1-29, June.
    6. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-44, March.
    7. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2008. "Planning and Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 413-417, May.
    8. Tinghög, Gustav & Ahmed, Ali & Barrafrem, Kinga & Lind, Thérèse & Skagerlund, Kenny & Västfjäll, Daniel, 2021. "Gender differences in financial literacy: The role of stereotype threat," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 405-416.
    9. Nikolaos D. Philippas & Christos Avdoulas, 2020. "Financial literacy and financial well-being among generation-Z university students: Evidence from Greece," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4-5), pages 360-381, March.
    10. Hans-Martin Von Gaudecker, 2015. "How Does Household Portfolio Diversification Vary with Financial Literacy and Financial Advice?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(2), pages 489-507, April.
    11. Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Annamaria Lusardi & Rob Alessie & Maarten van Rooij, 2017. "How Financially Literate Are Women? An Overview and New Insights," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 255-283, July.
    12. Paul Gerrans & Richard Heaney, 2019. "The impact of undergraduate personal finance education on individual financial literacy, attitudes and intentions," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(1), pages 177-217, March.
    13. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    14. Urban, Carly & Schmeiser, Maximilian & Collins, J. Michael & Brown, Alexandra, 2020. "The effects of high school personal financial education policies on financial behavior," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Smriti Rao & Hazel Malapit, 2015. "Gender, Household Structure and Financial Participation in the United States," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 606-620, December.
    16. Driva, Anastasia & Lührmann, Melanie & Winter, Joachim, 2016. "Gender differences and stereotypes in financial literacy: Off to an early start," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 143-146.
    17. Joanne W. Hsu, 2016. "Aging and Strategic Learning: The Impact of Spousal Incentives on Financial Literacy," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(4), pages 1036-1067.
    18. Cupák, Andrej & Fessler, Pirmin & Schneebaum, Alyssa & Silgoner, Maria, 2018. "Decomposing gender gaps in financial literacy: New international evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 102-106.
    19. Raquel Fonseca & Kathleen J. Mullen & Gema Zamarro & Julie Zissimopoulos, 2012. "What Explains the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy? The Role of Household Decision Making," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 90-106, March.
    20. Elizabeth Ooi, 2020. "Give mind to the gap: Measuring gender differences in financial knowledge," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 931-950, September.
    21. Thérèse Lind & Ali Ahmed & Kenny Skagerlund & Camilla Strömbäck & Daniel Västfjäll & Gustav Tinghög, 2020. "Competence, Confidence, and Gender: The Role of Objective and Subjective Financial Knowledge in Household Finance," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 626-638, December.
    22. Jennifer Robson & Johanna Peetz, 2020. "Gender differences in financial knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors: Accounting for socioeconomic disparities and psychological traits," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 813-835, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Man Yao & Tori I. Rehr & Erica P. Regan, 2023. "Gender Differences in Financial Knowledge among College Students: Evidence from a Recent Multi-institutional Survey," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 693-713, September.
    2. Rink, Ute & Walle, Yabibal M. & Klasen, Stephan, 2021. "The financial literacy gender gap and the role of culture," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 117-134.
    3. Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Rob Alessie & Annamaria Lusardi & Maarten van Rooij, 2021. "Fearless Woman. Financial Literacy and Stock Market Participation," Working Papers 708, DNB.
    4. Grohmann, Antonia & Hübler, Olaf & Kouwenberg, Roy & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2021. "Financial literacy: Thai middle-class women do not lag behind," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    5. Lusardi, Annamaria & Kaiser, Tim, 2024. "Financial literacy and financial education: An overview," CEPR Discussion Papers 19185, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Preston, Alison & Qiu, Lili & Wright, Robert E., 2022. "A Study of the Chinese Gender Gap in Financial Literacy," IZA Discussion Papers 15253, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Tinghög, Gustav & Ahmed, Ali & Barrafrem, Kinga & Lind, Thérèse & Skagerlund, Kenny & Västfjäll, Daniel, 2021. "Gender differences in financial literacy: The role of stereotype threat," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 405-416.
    8. Azra Zaimovic & Anes Torlakovic & Almira Arnaut-Berilo & Tarik Zaimovic & Lejla Dedovic & Minela Nuhic Meskovic, 2023. "Mapping Financial Literacy: A Systematic Literature Review of Determinants and Recent Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-30, June.
    9. Sholevar, Maryam & Harris, Laurence, 2019. "Mind the gap: A discussion paper on Financial Literacy, Financial behaviour and Financial Education : Is there any Gender Gap?," OSF Preprints b7zd6, Center for Open Science.
    10. Nathan Blascak & Anna Tranfaglia, 2021. "Decomposing Gender Differences in Bankcard Credit Limits," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-072, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    11. Bannier, Christina E. & Schwarz, Milena, 2018. "Gender- and education-related effects of financial literacy and confidence on financial wealth," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 66-86.
    12. Maria Jose Roa & Sonia Di Giannatale & Alejandra Villegas & Jonathan Barboza, 2023. "Are women more financially vulnerable than men? A tale of missed economic opportunities from Latin America," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(6), November.
    13. Noemi Oggero & Maria Cristina Rossi & Elisa Ughetto, 2020. "Entrepreneurial spirits in women and men. The role of financial literacy and digital skills," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 313-327, August.
    14. Elisabeth Beckmann & Sarah Reiter, 2020. "How financially literate is CESEE? Insights from the OeNB Euro Survey," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q3/20, pages 36-59.
    15. Alison Preston & Robert E. Wright, 2023. "Gender, Financial Literacy and Pension Savings," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 99(324), pages 58-83, March.
    16. Andrej Cupák & Pirmin Fessler & Maria Silgoner & Elisabeth Ulbrich, 2021. "Exploring Differences in Financial Literacy Across Countries: The Role of Individual Characteristics and Institutions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 409-438, December.
    17. Andrej Cupak & Pirmin Fessler & Maria Antoinette Silgoner & Elisabeth Ulbrich, 2018. "Financial literacy in Austria: a survey of recent research results," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1/18, pages 14-26.
    18. Gerrans, Paul, 2021. "Undergraduate student financial education interventions: Medium term evidence of retention, decay, and confidence in financial literacy," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    19. Oscar A. Stolper & Andreas Walter, 2017. "Financial literacy, financial advice, and financial behavior," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(5), pages 581-643, July.
    20. Silvia Mariela Méndez-Prado & Vanessa Rodriguez & Kevin Peralta-Rizzo & Patricia Everaert & Martin Valcke, 2023. "An Assessment Tool to Identify the Financial Literacy Level of Financial Education Programs Participants’ Executed by Ecuadorian Financial Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-24, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:100:y:2024:i:328:p:44-73. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esausea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.