{"title":"Between money and speculative asset: The role of financial literacy on the perception towards Bitcoin in Italy","authors":"Alessandro Cascavilla","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2024.102716","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>With Bitcoin at the forefront, cryptocurrencies are gaining traction as an alternative asset investment, particularly among young investors. Although most of the empirical evidence has shown that it could not be defined as a currency, some Bitcoin users argue the opposite. This paper analyzes the factors influencing the perception of Bitcoin, i.e., whether it is a currency or an asset, with a focus on financial literacy among a subject pool of university students in Italy. The results show that, after controlling for several individual characteristics such as behavioral biases, personal attitudes, psychological traits, and socio-demographic information, this cryptocurrency is considered more than just an asset, and thus it could replace currency, among subjects with lower financial literacy, higher knowledge of Bitcoin, and those who do not trust the banking system. In contrast, Bitcoin is considered a speculative asset among those individuals with higher financial literacy. In line with the recent evidence that cryptocurrencies are mostly owned by young investors, results indicate the importance of increasing the level of financial education among them.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 102716"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Economic Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167487024000242","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
With Bitcoin at the forefront, cryptocurrencies are gaining traction as an alternative asset investment, particularly among young investors. Although most of the empirical evidence has shown that it could not be defined as a currency, some Bitcoin users argue the opposite. This paper analyzes the factors influencing the perception of Bitcoin, i.e., whether it is a currency or an asset, with a focus on financial literacy among a subject pool of university students in Italy. The results show that, after controlling for several individual characteristics such as behavioral biases, personal attitudes, psychological traits, and socio-demographic information, this cryptocurrency is considered more than just an asset, and thus it could replace currency, among subjects with lower financial literacy, higher knowledge of Bitcoin, and those who do not trust the banking system. In contrast, Bitcoin is considered a speculative asset among those individuals with higher financial literacy. In line with the recent evidence that cryptocurrencies are mostly owned by young investors, results indicate the importance of increasing the level of financial education among them.
期刊介绍：
The Journal aims to present research that will improve understanding of behavioral, in particular psychological, aspects of economic phenomena and processes. The Journal seeks to be a channel for the increased interest in using behavioral science methods for the study of economic behavior, and so to contribute to better solutions of societal problems, by stimulating new approaches and new theorizing about economic affairs. Economic psychology as a discipline studies the psychological mechanisms that underlie economic behavior. It deals with preferences, judgments, choices, economic interaction, and factors influencing these, as well as the consequences of judgements and decisions for economic processes and phenomena. This includes the impact of economic institutions upon human behavior and well-being. Studies in economic psychology may relate to different levels of aggregation, from the household and the individual consumer to the macro level of whole nations. Economic behavior in connection with inflation, unemployment, taxation, economic development, as well as consumer information and economic behavior in the market place are thus among the fields of interest. The journal also encourages submissions dealing with social interaction in economic contexts, like bargaining, negotiation, or group decision-making. The Journal of Economic Psychology contains: (a) novel reports of empirical (including: experimental) research on economic behavior; (b) replications studies; (c) assessments of the state of the art in economic psychology; (d) articles providing a theoretical perspective or a frame of reference for the study of economic behavior; (e) articles explaining the implications of theoretical developments for practical applications; (f) book reviews; (g) announcements of meetings, conferences and seminars.
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