Using novel survey data, we examine attitudes towards money and to what extent they affect economic outcomes in Switzerland. We find that three main types of attitudes towards money co-exist: the prestige and power attitude, the money management attitude and the goal-oriented attitude. The distribution of these attitudes differs across Switzerland's linguistic regions; all of them are more significant in the French-speaking part, compared to the German-and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland. Attitudes towards money shape financial behaviour, but the relationship varies depending on the type of financial behaviour. Culturally shaped attitudes to money are mostly linked with indebtedness; a finding that could help design better financial literacy programmes.
We study the effect of culture on financial literacy by comparing secondary-school students along the German-French language border within Switzerland. We find that students in the Frenchspeaking area have a lower level of financial literacy than students in the German-speaking area. The difference in financial literacy across the language groups is mainly observed for native students and less among bilingual or immigrant students. This supports the hypothesis that cultural differences rather than differences in school curricula or school quality are driving the observed effect. A mediation analysis suggests that the cultural divide in financial literacy is mainly related to systematic differences in financial socialisation across the language groups. Students in the German speaking region are more likely to receive pocket money at an early age, more likely to have a bank account and are more likely to have independent access to a bank account.
Pourquoi certains jeunes s’enlisent-ils dans un endettement chronique et problématique, bien qu’ils disposent de ressources extérieures qui les aideraient à y faire face ? Comment expliquer que le recours à l’entraide familiale n’aille pas de soi, alors même qu’il peut faciliter la gestion, voire la sortie des dettes ? Cet article porte plus particulièrement sur le rôle des parents dans le parcours d’endettement problématique de jeunes hommes et femmes de Suisse romande de moins de 30 ans. Il apporte un nouvel éclairage sur les processus d’activation de la solidarité familiale et, dans notre cas, sur la manière dont ces processus dépendent de la situation économique de celui qui en est l’initiateur et de la manière dont il la perçoit. Non maîtrisé, l’endettement est en effet vécu et perçu comme le signe d’une immaturité économique et d’un échec personnel qu’il s’agit alors de cacher. Dès lors, le passage du secret concernant sa situation économique à son dévoilement intervient à une phase particulière du parcours d’endettement. Cette étape, nécessaire à l’activation de la solidarité parentale, va toutefois prendre des formes qui garantissent aux jeunes leur indépendance financière et leur autonomie nouvellement acquises contribuant ainsi à transformer l’expérience de l’endettement : d’échec, elle devient épreuve de passage au statut adulte.
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