Financial behaviour in the V4 countries using the Global Findex Database

Abstract

A person’s financial literacy as well as their values, attitudes and beliefs all impact their financial behaviour, thus influencing their financial well-being. Our aim is to evaluate the situation in the V4 nations with respect to the financial behaviour of adults who own credit cards and have savings. We compare results from the different V4 countries using the Global Findex Database of 2011 from the World Bank. The relationship between the individual variables is examined using the binary response model Logit. Our results reveal that owning a credit card and having saved money within the past 12 months have significant relationships to the owning of an account at a financial institution, having borrowed money from any number of various lenders, as well as the demographic characteristics such as age, within-economy income quintile, education level and country of residence. People who borrowed money from a financial institution, or another private lender, are more likely to own a credit card and less likely to have saved money within the past 12 months. This work defines financial literacy and education from several authors’ viewpoint. It describes the Global Findex Database and the binary response model, finishing with the results and their review.