Annamaria Lusardi|Olivia S. Mitchell
Financial Literacy Around the World: An Overview
George Washington University|National Bureau of Economic Research|University of Pennsylvania|National Bureau of Economic Research
increasingly risky globalized marketplace people must able make wellinformed financial decisions yet new international research demonstrates financial illiteracy widespread financial markets well developed germany netherlands sweden japan italy new zealand united states changing rapidly russia across countries show older population believes well informed even though actually less well informed average common patterns also evident women less financially literate men aware shortfall educated people informed yet education far perfect proxy literacy also ethnicracial regional differences citydwellers russia better informed rural counterparts us african americans hispanics relatively less literate others moreover financially literate also likely plan retirement fact answering one additional financial question correctly associated 34 percentage point higher chance planning retirement countries diverse germany us japan sweden netherlands boosts planning 10 percentage points finally using instrumental variables show estimates probably underestimate effects financial literacy retirement planning sum around world financial literacy critical retirement security