I examine the financial fragility of German households during the second wave of COVID-19 infections in the winter of 2020/21 by analyzing the households’ ability to come up with EUR 2,000 within one month. About one in three households reports being unable to cover an unexpected expense of...

The financial technology (fintech) sector is revolutionizing traditional financial practices, yet little information exists on the users of these services. In this study, we examine untapped information from the 2015 National Financial Capability Study and the 2016 GFLEC Mobile Payment Survey to...

This study seeks to contribute to the understanding of the underlying factors that can explain the high levels of financial exclusion that persist in Mexico, with focus on the role of financial literacy. Our analysis is based on the 2018 National Survey of Financial Inclusion in Mexico (ENIF)....

The purpose of this study is to explore the demand for robo-advising services by analyzing the participants’ behavioral characteristics and investment patterns. With the 2015 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor data, we found that robo-advisor users were younger investors with...

We investigate how information processing frictions contribute to household suboptimal saving and investment behavior. We find that 60% of open accounts in college 529 savings plans are invested suboptimally due to high expenses and tax inefficiency. Such investments yield an expected loss of 9%...

We examine the relationship between financial knowledge and long-term financial planning behavior. This analysis is important in light of the recent financial crisis and the current level of economic uncertainty. Survey responses from U.S. households are analyzed using analysis of variance,...

This paper analyzes how financial literacy and reported willingness to take financial risk impact a household's choice of mortgage type. The results show that households reporting higher financial literacy and lower risk aversion are 55 to 97 percent more likely to opt for interest-only...