Gender gap in pension literacy: Evidence from Italy
基于2436名意大利工作年龄成年人的调查数据，研究发现女性在公共养老金知识上显著落后于男性，但在补充养老金知识上差距消失，表明性别差距部分源于金融素养差异，部分源于对公共养老金系统的特定劣势。
This paper examines gender differences in pension literacy in Italy, distinguishing between knowledge of the public pension pillar and knowledge of supplementary pensions. Using a cross-sectional survey of 2436 working-age adults, we document a substantial raw gender gap in pension literacy. Once observable differences between men and women are taken into account, these characteristics explain roughly half of the gap, while the remaining half persists even after conditioning on observables. Our findings further show that the gender gap is not uniform across pension domains. Women remain significantly less informed about the public pension system, whereas the gap disappears in the case of supplementary pensions. These results suggest that women’s lower pension literacy reflects not only broader differences in financial literacy, but also a specific disadvantage in understanding the public pension system.