Could Financial Literacy Become a Key Variable to Examine Social and Economic Inequalities? A Study on Italian Regions

Abstract

Italy is characterized by deep regional inequalities. Macroeconomic variables like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), GDP per capita and social exclusion rate, allow to compare Italian regions, but nowadays it is even more important to dig in the consequence of these inequalities, and to get insights that may help explaining financial fragility. The inability to take proper financial decisions has negative effect for young adults in particular, since they are more vulnerable than adults. We try to verify if the observed inequalities in Italy are linked to different levels of financial literacy among young adults in distinct regions. We test the level of financial literacy on young adults depending on their regions of birth and compare the results with inequalities in GDP, poverty and social exclusion. We find evidence suggesting that young adults’ financial literacy is a key variable to examine these inequalities.