Mind the gap: A discussion paper on Financial Literacy, Financial behaviour and Financial Education : Is there any Gender Gap?

Most of the existing definitions and measurements of financial literacy have been tailored for developed countries. Although financial literacy and financial behaviour are usually assessed at the household level, the gender dimension of household agents is less explored which may overshadow the women’s low level of financial literacy. This is a selective systematic review aiming to survey the existing literature on financial literacy where the focus is on four main issues, namely. the conceptual framework for financial literacy and financial inclusion, the relationship between financial literacy and financial behaviour, the impact of gender on financial behaviour, and financial education. More than a hundred papers were reviewed and around twenty definitions and measures were analysed. On the basis of a thorough literature review, this paper identifies research gaps in each of the four main dimensions. The identified gaps are used to formulate four promising research ideas (PRIs). Specifically, the PRIs seek to: propose a new definition for financial literacy; review previous studies on analysing the relationship between financial literacy and financial behaviour; investigate the gender disparity and propose a novel method for financial training. Through a systematic review, we developed a native definition of financial literacy for developing countries.