Stereotypes in financial literacy: Evidence from PISA
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Abstract
We examine gender differences in financial literacy among high school students in Italy using\ndata from the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Gender differences\nin financial literacy are large among the young in Italy. They are present in all regions and are\nparticularly severe in the South and the Islands. Combining the rich PISA data with a variety of\nother indicators, we provide a thorough analysis of the potential determinants of the gender gap in\nfinancial literacy. We find that parental background, in particular the role of mothers, matters for\nthe financial knowledge of girls. Moreover, we show that the social and cultural environment in\nwhich girls and boys live plays a crucial role in explaining gender differences. We also show that\nhistory matters: Medieval commercial hubs and the nuclear family structure created conditions\nfavorable to the transformation of the role of women in society, and shaped gender differences in\nfinancial literacy as well