Aging and Strategic Learning: The Impact of Spousal Incentives on Financial Literacy

Joanne Hsu

Journal of Human Resources, 2016, vol. 51, issue 4, 1036-1067

Abstract: Women tend to be less financially literate than men, consistent with a division of labor where husbands manage finances. However, women tend to outlive their husbands. I find that older women acquire financial literacy as they approach widowhood—80 percent would catch up with their husbands by the expected onset of widowhood. These gains are not attributable to husbands’ cognitive decline, as captured by cognition tests. The results are consistent with a model in which the division of labor collapses when a spouse dies: Women have incentives to delay acquiring financial human capital but also to begin learning before widowhood.

Date: 2016
Note: DOI: 10.3368/jhr.51.4.1014-6712R
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Related works:
Working Paper: Aging and strategic learning: the impact of spousal incentives on financial literacy (2011)
Working Paper: Aging and Strategic Learning: The Impact of Spousal Incentives on Financial Literacy (2011)
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