Determinants of Financial Literacy and Behavioral Bias Among Adolescents

56 Pages Posted: 5 May 2023

See all articles by Marco Aschenwald

Marco Aschenwald

Austrian National Bank

Armando Holzknecht

University of Innsbruck

Michael Kirchler

University of Innsbruck

Michael Razen

University of Innsbruck

Abstract

Building on cross-sectional data for Austrian high school students from fifth to twelfth grade, we investigate the correlations between socio-economic background variables and a comprehensive set of variables related to financial decision-making (i.e., financial knowledge, behavioral consistency, economic preferences, field behavior, and perception of financial matters). We confirm the findings of previous literature that the male gender is positively associated with financial knowledge and risk-taking and that there is a strong and beneficial correlation between math grades and healthy financial behavior (e.g., saving). Moreover, we find that students’ behavioral consistency is positively correlated with measures of financial attitude (e.g., self-assessed future financial well-being and financial education received from parents). Finally, our results indicate that financial education, as perceived by the students, is primarily provided by parents.

Keywords: financial literacy, behavioral biases, economic preferences, field behavior, perception, experiment

Suggested Citation

Aschenwald, Marco and Holzknecht, Armando and Kirchler, Michael and Razen, Michael, Determinants of Financial Literacy and Behavioral Bias Among Adolescents. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4439468 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4439468

Marco Aschenwald

Austrian National Bank ( email )

Wien 9, Otto Wagner Platz
Postfach 61
1010 Vienna, 1090
Austria

Armando Holzknecht

University of Innsbruck ( email )

Universitätsstraße 15
Innsbruck, 6020
Austria

Michael Kirchler (Contact Author)

University of Innsbruck ( email )

Innsbruck
Austria

Michael Razen

University of Innsbruck ( email )

Innsbruck
Austria

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