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Financial literacy and retirement planning in Germany*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2011

TABEA BUCHER-KOENEN  and
ANNAMARIA LUSARDI
TABEA BUCHER-KOENEN
Affiliation:
Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max-Planck-Institute for Social Law and Social Policy and Netspar (e-mail:[email protected])
ANNAMARIA LUSARDI
Affiliation:
The George Washington University School of Business and Netspar (e-mail:[email protected])
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Abstract

We examine financial literacy in Germany using data from the SAVE survey. We find that knowledge of basic financial concepts is lacking among women, the less educated, and those living in East Germany. In particular, those with low education and low income in East Germany have low financial literacy compared to their West German counterparts. Interestingly, there is no gender disparity in financial knowledge in the East. In order to investigate the nexus of causality between financial literacy and retirement planning, we develop an instrumental variables strategy by making use of regional variation in the financial knowledge of peers. We find a positive impact of financial knowledge on retirement planning.

Keywords

D91Financial sophisticationretirement planninglife-cycle savingsfinancial educationEast Germany
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Pension Economics & Finance , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 2011 , pp. 565 - 584
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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