Financial literacy is falling in Australia, except that it’s not
研究发现澳大利亚金融素养的下降是调查方式从面对面转为电话访谈造成的假象，实际知识水平并未下降，提醒研究者注意调查模式对认知密集型问题的影响。
• Observed financial literacy in Australia declined by 2016 and 2020 • The decline is attributed to an exogenous shift in interview mode • Measured financial literacy declined, not true financial knowledge • Mode changes can create spurious changes in cognitively demanding survey responses Using a nationally representative household panel for Australia, we observe an apparent significant deterioration in financial literacy between 2016 and 2020 and aim to identify its determinants. This surprising development is attributed to an exogenous change in interview mode from predominantly in-person to telephone, causally induced by the coronavirus pandemic. Measured financial literacy, though not latent true financial knowledge, declined as a result. Analyses of financial literacy or other cognitively demanding subjects must specifically take mode of interview into account, as mode changes can create spurious trends in cognitively demanding survey questions.