Numeracy, Financial Literacy, and Financial Decision-Making
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Financial decisions, be they related to asset building or debt management, require the capacity to do calculations, including some complex ones.But how numerate are individuals, in particular when it comes to calculations related to financial decisions?Studies and surveys implemented in both the United States and in other countries that are described in this paper show the level of numeracy among the population to be very low.Moreover, lack of numeracy is not only widespread but is particularly severe among some demographic groups, such as women, the elderly, and those with low educational attainment.This has potential consequences for individuals and for society as a whole because numeracy is found to be linked to many financial decisions.Now more than ever, numeracy and financial literacy are lifetime skills necessary to succeed in today's complex economic environment.
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The majority of contributions to the literature document a positive correlation between formal education and financial literacy.
“Furthermore, the majority of contributions to the literature document a positive correlation between formal education and financial literacy (Lusardi and Mitchell 2011c;Christelis et al. 2010;Lusardi 2012).”
From Financial literacy, financial advice, and financial behavior (2017) · cites this paper as Lusardi 2012
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The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence
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Self-citationDoes self-control predict financial behavior and financial well-being?
Strömbäck, C., Lind, T., Skagerlund, K., Västfjäll, D., & Tinghög, G. (2017) · Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance · doi:10.1016/j.jbef.2017.04.002 · Cited by 526 · see citing works
“Most studies have measured financial behavior on a one-item scale, usually related to savings behavior (e.g. Gathergood, 2012; Lusardi, 2012; Rha et al., 2006).”
Financial literacy, financial advice, and financial behavior
Stolper, O. A., & Walter, A. (2017) · Journal of Business Economics · doi:10.1007/s11573-017-0853-9 · Cited by 471 · see citing works
“Furthermore, the majority of contributions to the literature document a positive correlation between formal education and financial literacy (Lusardi and Mitchell 2011c; Christelis et al. 2010; Lusardi 2012).”
In Our Best Interest: Women, Financial Literacy, and Credit Card Behavior
Mottola, G. (2013) · Numeracy · doi:10.5038/1936-4660.6.2.4 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Five steps to planning success: experimental evidence from US households
Heinberg, A., Hung, A., Kapteyn, A., Lusardi, A., Samek, A. S., & Yoong, J. (2014) · Oxford Review of Economic Policy · doi:10.1093/oxrep/gru036 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Lusardi, A.
- Affiliations
- National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lusardi, Annamaria
- ORCID
- Lusardi, Annamaria
- Venue
- Numeracy
- Publisher
- National Bureau of Economic Research
- Published
- 2012-02
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 1936-4660 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2171200380
- Cited by
- 332
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 44.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Numeracy (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- National Bureau of Economic Research (publishedVersion)
- Digital Commons - University of South Florida (University of South Florida) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
- National Bureau of Economic Research (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Dartmouth College
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Accounting › Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Accounting › Financial Literacy and Behavior
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Keywords
- financial literacy, financial decision-making, financial calculations, asset building, debt management, women, older adults, low educational attainment, financial education
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