Financial literacy, cognitive abilities and gender gap

Stephen Agnew, Patrick Roger and Tristan Roger ()
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Stephen Agnew: University of Canterbury [Christchurch]
Patrick Roger: UNC - Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, LARJE - Laboratoire de Recherches Juridique et Economique - UNC - Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg
Tristan Roger: CEREFIGE - Centre Européen de Recherche en Economie Financière et Gestion des Entreprises - UL - Université de Lorraine, ICN Business School

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Abstract: This paper examines how cognitive abilities explain variation in financial literacy among teenagers. We consider three dimensions of cognition: cognitive reflection, fluid intelligence, and approximate numeracy. Together, these measures account for nearly half of the variance in financial literacy scores and help explain the observed gender gap. While we find that the gender gap in financial literacy is entirely accounted for by differences in cognitive reflection, we do not find a similar result for approximate numeracy or fluid intelligence. These findings suggest that the gap is not driven by general cognitive differences across gender but by specific features that are shared by the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) and the financial literacy test and that disproportionately penalize girls.

Keywords: Financial literacy; cognitive ability; cognitive reflection; approximate numeracy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01
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Published in Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 2026, 105, pp.102098. ⟨10.1016/j.qref.2025.102098⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05492967

DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2025.102098

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