On 28 June 2022, Valentina Catapano, Junior Research Fellow at the Department of Economics and Management, University of Padua, will present the work in progress The Regulation of Competitive Pension Funds with Endogenous Financial Literacy. Catapano, V., Greco, L.
Abstract:
The long-run trend towards retirement schemes based on competitive, defined-contribution pension funds has motivated a growing interest in financial literacy as a tool to mitigate agency problems and myopic behaviors in pension investments. In this paper, we focus on the adverse selection problem affecting a market in which pension funds compete to attract households’ savings, and we model the investment in financial literacy as a costly screening technology. Relying on such a theoretical framework, we show that the (optimal) level of financial literacy is affected by several policy parameters, particularly the size of mandatory pension savings. Then, on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis, we assess alternative regulatory frameworks including policy tools such as the level of transparency that pension funds have to comply with and the public provision of investments in financial literacy.
This presentation is part of the cycle of internal economics seminars at the Department of Economics and Management of the University of Padua. The seminar can be attended both in Sala Seminari – via del Santo 33 from 3 pm (CET), and on the Zoom platform at the following link. For all the details visit the dedicated page: https://www.economia.
