Financial Literacy and Political Orientation in Great Britain

41 Pages Posted: 31 Oct 2016

See all articles by Alberto Montagnoli

Alberto Montagnoli

University of Stirling - Department of Economics

Mirko Moro

University of Stirling

Georgios A. Panos

University of Glasgow - Adam Smith Business School

Robert Wright

University of Strathclyde in Glasgow; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between financial literacy and political orientation in Great Britain. Using novel data from the British Election Survey in 2014, we employ two distinct measures of political orientation, capturing individual self-assessment on a left-right axis and party preferences. We find that financially-literate individuals are some 11-19 percent more likely to orientate at the centre-left or the centre-right. Moreover, they are some 30 percent less likely not to know their political orientation. The results are robust when rich sets of public-attitude and public-value variables are accounted for. Financially-literate individuals are also more likely to have a stable political orientation over time and they are some 15-23 percent less likely to change attitudes radically towards the left or the right across different waves of the study. We interpret our findings as indicative that greater financial literacy is conducive to greater stability of moderate political views and orientation.

Keywords: financial literacy, political orientation, attitudes, polarization, Great Britain

JEL Classification: D14, D63, D72, I24

Suggested Citation

Montagnoli, Alberto and Moro, Mirko and Panos, Georgios A. and Wright, Robert, Financial Literacy and Political Orientation in Great Britain. IZA Discussion Paper No. 10285, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2861070 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2861070

Alberto Montagnoli (Contact Author)

University of Stirling - Department of Economics ( email )

Stirling, Scotland FK9 4LA
United Kingdom
+44-0 1786-46-7478 (Phone)
+44-0 1786-46-7469 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.staff.stir.ac.uk/alberto.montagnoli/

Mirko Moro

University of Stirling ( email )

Stirling, Scotland FK9 4LA
United Kingdom

Georgios A. Panos

University of Glasgow - Adam Smith Business School ( email )

Gilbert Scott Building
University Avenue
Glasgow, Scotland G128QQ
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/georgiosapanos/

Robert Wright

University of Strathclyde in Glasgow ( email )

16 Richmond Street
Glasgow 1XQ, Scotland G1 1XQ
United Kingdom

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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