Culture and Financial Literacy

Abstract

We study the effect of culture on financial literacy by comparing secondary-school students along the German-French language border within Switzerland. We find that students in the Frenchspeaking area have a lower level of financial literacy than students in the German-speaking area. The difference in financial literacy across the language groups is mainly observed for native students and less among bilingual or immigrant students. This supports the hypothesis that cultural differences rather than differences in school curricula or school quality are driving the observed effect. A mediation Analysis suggests that the cultural divide in financial literacy is mainly related to systematic differences in financial socialisation across the language groups. Students in the German speaking region are more likely to receive pocket money at an early age, more likely to have a bank account and are more likely to have independent access to a bank account.