Pension information and women’s awareness

Abstract

We explore the role of financial and pension information in increasing women’s knowledge and awareness of their future pension status and interest for pension information. We interview a representative sample of 801 Italian working women to assess their knowledge about pensions, financial issues and their own savings. The responses show that their knowledge and awareness of retirement planning is limited. We then run a randomized experiment to evaluate the effect of increased information regarding pensions on women’s awareness, knowledge, and behaviors. Women in the treated group are provided information in the form of three short online tutorials. A follow-up survey shows that these women become more interested and aware of pension schemes and retirement options after completing the tutorials and are more likely to be better informed and keener to obtain further information. When looking at changes in behavior, we find that treated women who are closer to retirement are more likely to believe that they would make different work-life decisions if they received specific pension information in a timely fashion. Middle-aged women are also more likely to have a supplementary pension fund if they are concerned about their standards of living after retirement.