Purpose

The present study examines the linkage between financial literacy and financial fragility during COVID-19. It further examines if financial literacy has a differential impact on financial fragility based on psychological (financial confidence), economic (wealth) and social (race) factors.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used nationally representative data of the American working age-group. They collated six different datasets collected at different time-periods to conduct the present study. Based on 2,202 observations, they conducted logistic regression analyses to test the proposed relationships.

Findings

The authors find that financial literacy reduces the odds of being financially fragile by 9.1%. Furthermore, they find that financially literate consumers having high financial confidence are less financially fragile during COVID-19. Besides, the adverse impact of financial literacy on financial fragility is more for consumers having more than less wealth. The interaction with race is not significant, suggesting that financial literacy cuts across racial boundaries.

Practical implications

Financial fragility is an important factor having numerous deleterious consequences. The authors’ study found that financial confidence, psychological factor and wealth economic factor enhances the negative effect of financial literacy on financial fragility. Banks and financial institutes can develop mechanisms to infuse confidence in individuals during the pandemic to reduce their financial fragility. Policymakers and governments may increase awareness related to debt management practices and design financial literacy interventions to reduce financial fragility among individuals.

Originality/value

The study is one of the initial studies to examine the antecedents of financial fragility. Based on a time-lagged data, the authors’ study examines the linkage between financial literacy and financial fragility. Though scholars have investigated financial literacy and its implications, scholarly work in this domain during COVID-19 is at best limited. The study contributes to the literature by testing the effects of boundary conditions that can change financial literacy's impact on financial fragility.

中文翻译：

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金融知识是否会降低 COVID-19 期间的金融脆弱性？心理、经济和社会因素的调节作用

目的

本研究考察了 COVID-19 期间金融素养与金融脆弱性之间的联系。它还基于心理（金融信心）、经济（财富）和社会（种族）因素进一步研究了金融素养是否对金融脆弱性有不同的影响。

设计/方法/方法

作者使用了美国工作年龄组的全国代表性数据。他们整理了在不同时间段收集的六个不同数据集来进行本研究。基于 2,202 次观察，他们进行了逻辑回归分析以测试提议的关系。

发现

作者发现金融知识将财务脆弱的几率降低了 9.1%。此外，他们发现，在 COVID-19 期间，具有较高财务信心的具有财务知识的消费者在财务上不那么脆弱。此外，金融知识对金融脆弱性的不利影响更多是针对财富多于少的消费者。与种族的互动并不显着，这表明金融知识跨越了种族界限。

实际影响

金融脆弱性是一个重要因素，会产生许多有害后果。作者的研究发现，金融信心、心理因素和财富经济因素增强了金融素养对金融脆弱性的负面影响。银行和金融机构可以制定机制，在大流行期间为个人注入信心，以减少他们的财务脆弱性。政策制定者和政府可能会提高与债务管理实践相关的意识，并设计金融知识干预措施以减少个人的金融脆弱性。

原创性/价值

该研究是检验金融脆弱性前因的初步研究之一。基于时间滞后的数据，作者的研究检验了金融素养与金融脆弱性之间的联系。尽管学者们已经研究了金融知识及其影响，但在 COVID-19 期间该领域的学术工作充其量是有限的。该研究通过测试可以改变金融素养对金融脆弱性的影响的边界条件的影响，为文献做出贡献。