Digital and Financial Skills in Shaping Financial Decisions: Exploring the Gender Gap

Is the propensity to save and invest related to digital skills and financial knowledge? Do digital skills and financial knowledge affect people’s attitudes towards digital payments and digital financial services? Is there a gender gap? This paper addresses these issues by using a new dataset based on around 4000 individuals interviewed in two waves between 2019 and 2021. We find that digital and financial skills are fundamental to shaping financial behavior and attitudes, including those regarding digital financial services. However, there are qualifications to be made: digital skills complement financial ones in managing personal budgets, monitoring expenses, and saving money at the end of the month, as well as helping people realize the benefit of the diffusion of digital financial services. On the other hand, digital skills do not affect investment decisions. We also show that both digital and financial skills are positively associated with educational and income levels and are characterized by a significant gender gap.