scholarly journals The Assessment of Financial Literacy: The Case of Europe*

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (No. 2 Oct 2019) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Gianni Nicolini

The study starts from the definition of financial literacy and its components, to identify the criteria that an assessment methodology should have to properly measure it. In the second part, an empirical analysis of the degree of financial literacy of adult population in several European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK) is used to highlight similarities and to stress differences between countries. Results show how the availability of 50 items allows to differentiate the levels of financial literacy in various areas of knowledge (e.g. loans, investments, money management). The use of money (e.g. credit cards, debit cards, cash) is the area of knowledge where individuals seem to be more well-informed and confident. Conversely, investment and investment products (e.g. stock, bonds) represent a weak point, with average scores being dramatically low.

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. 1234-1246
Author(s):  
Lambert K. Engelbrecht ◽  
Abigail Ornellas

Purpose Within a neoliberal environment, financial vulnerability of households has become an increasing challenge and there is a requirement of financial literacy education, a necessary activity to facilitate sustainable development and well-being. However, this is seldom a mainstream discourse in social work deliberations. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach First, introducing the neoliberal impact on financial well-being and capability for vulnerable households, the authors’ postulation is substantiated on a seven-point argument. The contexts of financially vulnerable households are sketched. Second, a conceptualisation of financial literacy is offered, and third, perspectives on and approaches to financial literacy as a fundamental capability are presented. This is followed by a theoretical foundation of community education as a practice model in social work to develop financial capabilities. In the fifth place, prevailing practices of Financial Capabilities Development (FCD) programmes are offered. Subsequently, the implications of a neoliberal environment for social work practice are examined. Findings The revised global definition of social work encourages the profession to understand and address the structural causes of social problems through collective interventions. As a response, it is argued that community education towards FCD of vulnerable households within a neoliberal environment should be an essential discourse in social development. Originality/value The authors reflect on the significance of FCD, highlighting its contribution towards human security and sustainable development. Although this paper draws on Southern African contexts, the discourse finds resonance in other contexts across the world.


2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Ludwig-Mayerhofer ◽  
Hermann Gartner ◽  
Jutta Allmendinger

SummaryResearch conducted in the 1980s and early 1990s showed considerable inequalities within male-female couples as concerns financial arrangements and access to personal spending money. This paper provides an analysis of the allocation of money in German couples that goes beyond previous research in two respects. First, data are used that permit direct, albeit only rough, assessments of the amount of personal spending money available to each of the partners. Second, it is therefore possible to investigate in some detail the factors that may influence the availability of personal spending money and thus also the possible differences between the woman and the man concerning the amount of money available to each of them.The empirical analysis is based on the German Low Income Panel (NIedrig-Einkommens-Panel, NIEP), a panel study representative of households with an income lower than about 1.5 times the German social assistance rate in 1999, the year of the first wave. We use the fourth wave of the NIEP, in which questions about couples’ money management were added to the questionnaire. The data refer to those 718 households that consisted of an adult couple, with or without children.While not all couples allocate the same amount of money to each partner, there is no difference in the proportion of men and women who have more money at their disposal than their partners. A number of hypotheses are tested concerning the amount of money allocated to individual partners, and the effects are basically the same for men and women. Investigation of the effects on the within-couple differences in personal spending money shows that the balance shifts in favor of the male partner if his education is superior to that of the female partner. This holds specifically for couples with very low incomes.


1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 14-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Hanhinen

This article compares Nordic drinking habit surveys and their results — a comparison previously done in 1988. It includes all the main surveys regarding drinking habits of the adult population in the Nordic countries since 1988. In addition the analysis takes in Italy and Germany. Drinking habits are described and compared on four dimensions: the share of abstainers and drinkers, overall drinking frequency, the volume of alcohol consumption, and heavy drinking and drinking for intoxication. The study highlights the difficulties inherent in the international comparison of drinking habits. The results indicate that even though the changes in beverage preferences imply a homogenization of drinking patterns, the homogenization hypothesis proves to be wrong when comparing the results concerning the shares of abstainers, drinking frequencies or distribution of alcohol consumption between women and men. Denmark still differs from the rest of the Nordic countries in these respects, being closer to central European countries like Germany. In the other Nordic countries traditional drinking patterns seem to persist despite the changes in beverage preferences. Closest to Denmark and central European countries stands Finland, where drinking frequency has been rising and where more alcohol is consumed than in Sweden, Norway and Iceland. Looking at the previous comparison of Nordic drinking habits, it can be concluded that drinking habits are very open to changes.


1993 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Borensztein ◽  
Dimitri G. Demekas ◽  
Jonathan D. Ostry

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 97-112
Author(s):  
Sergio Hernández-Mejía ◽  
Arturo García-Santillán ◽  
Elena Moreno-García

Author(s):  
Ales Kozubik ◽  
Zuzana Kozubikova ◽  
Jiri Rybicka

Financial literacy is one of the key components of education for living in a modern society. In this article, we present the results of our research into the current state of financial literacy among university students from two European countries. Our research was conducted in the form of a questionnaire survey. In the first part of the questionnaire we investigated selected personal characteristics of respondents and the second part was devoted to knowledge in different areas of financial literacy. The knowledge questions were focused mainly on respondents’ competence in specific practical situations. The obtained data were processed by statistical analysis, including the dependencies between the results of the knowledge part and the self-reflexive assessment in the first part of the questionnaire. This analysis revealed several noteworthy findings. Keywords: Financial literacy; questionnaire survey; statistical tests;


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document