The importance of financial literacy: Evidence from Japan

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines financial literacy in Japan using a recent dataset from 2022 and finds that financial literacy levels are low. Only 36% of the respondents could correctly answer the Big Three financial literacy questions, three well-known questions assessing the understanding of interest, inflation, and risk diversification. Also, significant demographic variation exists in the Japanese population: the young, women, and the less educated are those who struggle the most with these fundamental financial concepts. Additionally, we find that Japanese who know the basics about environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)-related principles are also those who show better financial literacy levels than those who do not know about ESG. Lastly, our results confirm that financial literacy matters: it is strongly and positively correlated with active investment behavior, which may affect wealth accumulation and financial wellbeing.

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