Subjective belief distributions and the characterization of economic literacy

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Year: 2015
Volume: 59
Issue: C
Pages: 1-12

Authors (4)

Di Girolamo, Amalia (not in RePEc) Harrison, Glenn W. (Georgia State University) Lau, Morten I. (Copenhagen Business School) Swarthout, J. Todd (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We characterize the literacy of an individual in a domain by their elicited subjective belief distribution over the possible responses to a question posed in that domain. By eliciting the distribution, rather than just the answers to true/false or multiple choice questions, we can directly measure the confidence that an individual has about their knowledge of some fact. We consider literacy across several financial and economic domains. We find considerable demographic heterogeneity in the degree of literacy. We also measure the degree of consistency within a sample about their knowledge, even when that knowledge is imperfect.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:soceco:v:59:y:2015:i:c:p:1-12
Journal Field
Experimental
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-25