Social Interaction, Financial Literacy, and Household Financial Fragility

Financial Literacy, Retirement Planning, and Household Wealth

There is ample empirical evidence documenting widespread financial illiteracy and limited pension knowledge. At the same time, the net worth distribution is heavily dispersed and many workers arrive on the verge of retirement with little or no personal wealth. This paper is the first to investigate the relation between financial sophistication and household net worth relying on specific measure...

How Financial Literacy Affects Household Wealth Accumulation.

This study isolates the causal effects of financial literacy and schooling on wealth accumulation using a new household dataset and an instrumental variables (IV) approach. Financial literacy and schooling attainment are both strongly positively associated with wealth outcomes in linear regression models, whereas the IV estimates reveal even more potent effects of financial literacy. They also ...

Financial Literacy, Social Perception and Strategic Default

As a result of sustained housing market fragility, a growing number of borrowers are walking away from their underwater homes even though they have the ability to pay. Despite recent advances, questions remain about what influences this decision. In this paper, we use survey data to examine the role of social expectations, financial literacy and knowledge of default consequences. We find that h...

Governance and Financial Fragility

Bailouts and Financial Fragility

Should policy makers be prevented from bailing out investors in the event of a crisis? I study this question in a model of financial intermediation with limited commitment. When a crisis occurs, the policy maker will respond by transferring resources to those investors facing losses. The anticipation of such a “bailout” distorts ex ante incentives, leading intermediaries to become excessively i...