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Subjective Belief Distributions and the Characterization of Economic Literacy

Girolamo, A.D.; Harrison, G.W.; Lau, M.I.; Swarthout, J.T.

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Authors

A.D. Girolamo

G.W. Harrison

J.T. Swarthout



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.

Citation

Girolamo, A., Harrison, G., Lau, M., & Swarthout, J. (2015). Subjective Belief Distributions and the Characterization of Economic Literacy. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 59, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2015.08.004

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 12, 2015
Publication Date Dec 1, 2015
Deposit Date Sep 3, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Print ISSN 2214-8043
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 59
Pages 1-12
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2015.08.004
Keywords Belief elicitation, Financial literacy, Statistical literacy.
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1400577

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