Financial Literacy among Working Young in Urban India

• Published in: World development Vol. 67; pp. 101 - 109
• Main Authors: Agarwalla, Sobhesh Kumar, Barua, Samir K., Jacob, Joshy, Varma, Jayanth R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2015; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Decision making; Education; Families & family life; Family; Family life; financial attitude; financial behavior; Financial economics; financial knowledge; Financial literacy; Financial performance; India; Men; Personal finance; Studies; Women; Younger workers; Youth; India; financial behavior; financial attitude; financial literacy; youth; financial knowledge; India
• ISSN: 0305-750X; 1873-5991
• DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.10.004

•We investigate the influence of socio-demographic attributes on financial literacy.•Both men and women show low levels of financial knowledge.•Besides, men show poor financial attitude and women show poor financial behavior.•Living in joint-family influences financial literacy of individuals negatively.•Consultative decision-making influences financial literacy positively. The working young in urban India exhibit inferior financial knowledge, inferior financial attitude, and superior financial behavior compared to their counterparts elsewhere. While both men and women require intervention to enhance their financial knowledge, focused intervention is needed to improve the financial attitude of men and the financial behavior of women. Living in a joint family impacts financial literacy negatively and consultative decision-making in families impacts it positively. The influence of these key aspects of Indian family life indicates the need to involve family members in financial literacy programs to improve financial decision making of families.