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American Economic Review Vol. 102 No. 3 2012

Financial Knowledge and Financial Literacy at the Household Level

Alan L. Gustman1; Thomas L. Steinmeier2; Nahid Tabatabai1

1 Department of Economics, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755. · 2 Department of Economics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409.

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.

DOI
10.1257/aer.102.3.309
Volume
102
Issue
3
Pages
309-313
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

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