Financial literacy and stock market participation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: van Rooij, Maarten; Lusardi, Annamaria; Alessie, Rob
• 署名单位: Dartmouth College; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Groningen
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2011.03.006
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 449-472
• 关键词: portfolio choice; Knowledge of economics and finance; Financial sophistication; Risk diversification; Learning from peers

摘要

We have devised two special modules for De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) Household Survey to measure financial literacy and study its relationship to stock market participation. We find that the majority of respondents display basic financial knowledge and have some grasp of concepts such as interest compounding, inflation, and the time value of money. However, very few go beyond these basic concepts; many respondents do not know the difference between bonds and stocks, the relationship between bond prices and interest rates, and the basics of risk diversification. Most importantly, we find that financial literacy affects financial decision-making: Those with low literacy are much less likely to invest in stocks. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.