We investigate the determinants of the racial/ethnic gap in financial literacy in the general population and within income classes, with a focus on childhood family circumstances and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics. Our model explains 48% and 57% of the observed gap for Blacks and Hispanics, respectively. For both groups, differences in individual characteristics and neighborhood socioeconomic status contribute the most to the explained gap. The White–Minority gap narrows when moving from low- to high-income classes, but the ability of the model to explain it decreases monotonically. Identifying which additional barriers put minorities at a disadvantage is key to improve financial literacy.

中文翻译：

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人口和收入在金融知识方面的种族/族裔差距

我们调查了一般人群和收入阶层在金融知识方面种族/族裔差距的决定因素，重点关注儿童家庭情况和社区社会经济特征。我们的模型分别解释了黑人和西班牙裔人观察到的差距的 48% 和 57%。对于这两个群体，个体特征和邻里社会经济地位的差异对解释的差距贡献最大。当从低收入阶层转移到高收入阶层时，白人与少数族裔的差距会缩小，但模型解释它的能力会单调下降。确定哪些额外的障碍使少数群体处于不利地位是提高金融知识的关键。