Financial Education: the « Wrong » Gender?

Luc ARRONDEL * Directeur de recherche, CNRS ; professeur, Paris School of Economics. Contact : luc.arrondel@psemail.euL'auteur remercie les éditeurs de ce numéro pour leurs remarques sur la première version de cet article. Cette recherche a bénéficié du soutien de l'axe « Économie publique et redistribution » du CEPREMAP. L'Institut Europlace de Finance (IEF) a également soutenu financièrement ce travail.

The concept of “financial literacy” has become a must when studying household finance. All empirical studies show that, overall, people's financial knowledge is rather limited, particularly in certain categories of the population, notably among women. This article examines the gender gap in France. The gap seems to be better accounted for by social norms, gender stereotypes, or preferences than by observable individual characteristics. A financial education policy aimed at improving literacy must therefore be differentiated according to gender.