Questa tesi si propone di analizzare il tema dell’alfabetizzazione finanziaria secondo tre differenti prospettive servendosi di dati raccolti da un’indagine appositamente creata e somministrata in Italia tra Settembre 2014 e Febbraio 2015. Il primo capitolo guarda alle determinanti dell’alfabetizzazione finanziaria, concentrandosi sul ruolo dei consulenti finanziari, il secondo assume una prospettiva più psicologica sul tema e il terzo guarda alla mancanza di alfabetizzazione finanziaria quale possibile causa di distorsioni comportamentali finanziarie. Gli interventi tradizionalmente volti al miglioramento della consapevolezza finanziaria sono risultati estremamente costosi e con periodi di decadimento particolarmente brevi in tutto il mondo; l’evidenza empirica presentata in questa tesi suggerisce che una forma di educazione finanziaria più graduale e costante, come quella esercitata dai consulenti finanziari indipendenti, sarebbe più efficace. La conoscenza dei canali relazionali che potenziano il ruolo educativo dei consulenti finanziari, potrebbe aiutare a orientare e meglio calibrare futuri interventi educativi, tenendo a mente, tuttavia, che la competenza teorica non garantisce necessariamente comportamenti finanziariamente corretti. In accordo ai risultati ottenuti, infatti, l’alfabetizzazione finanziaria diminuisce la presenza di distorsioni finanziarie cognitive, ma non ha un effetto significativo sulle quelle emozionali. / This thesis aims at investigating the financial literacy through three different perspectives by analysing the data gathered from an ad-hoc survey carried out in Italy between September 2014 and February 2015. The first chapter looks at the determinants of financial literacy, focusing on the role of financial advisors, the second one takes a psychological perspective on the issue and the last chapter looks at poor financial literacy as a possible antecedent for financial behavioural biases. Traditional educational interventions aimed at improving financial awareness proved to be extremely costly and to have a worryingly short decay period worldwide; the empirical findings presented in this thesis suggest that a more gradual and constant form of financial education, such as the one exerted by independent financial advisors, would be more effective. Being aware of the relational channels that enhance the independent financial advisors’ educational role, may help to orient and better target future educational treatments, bearing in mind, though, that the theoretical financial proficiency does not ensure unbiased downstream behaviours. As a matter of fact, according to the results, financial literacy decreases the presence of cognitive biases, but does not have a significant effect on emotional biases.

The extensive literature on financial literacy has sought to explain financial behaviours and decisions. On the asset side of the balance sheet, financial literacy is associated with good financial practice and wealth accumulation. On the liability side, however, the contribution of financial literacy to individuals’ financial decisions is not entirely clear. To add to this literature, as well as that of behavioural finance and alternative financial services, this research develops a conceptual framework based on Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behaviour (TPB). This framework links individuals’ attitudes to financial matters, subjective norms, perceived feasibility, financial knowledge, and behavioural biases that include overconfidence and present bias on the decision to obtain high-interest loans. The empirical tests of the developed framework suggest that individuals in distinct socio-economic groups have different antecedents that lead to borrowing from alternative financial services. For instance, individuals from low-income households are more likely to obtain these loans if they: do not have access to other forms of credit; struggle to pay their bills; are unemployed; or do not have access to advice from finance professionals. In turn, individuals from high-income households are more likely to obtain these loans if they lack financial knowledge or have behavioural biases like overconfidence or present bias. These results suggest the importance of access to professional advice while ensuring access to traditional means of obtaining credit for low-income individuals in order to reduce the negative effects of these high-interest loans. The results also confirm the importance of current policy initiatives to implement basic finance education in public school curriculums, and the urgency to seek effective approaches to address individuals’ cognitive assumptions.