Screening Financial Literacy in Young Business-Oriented Professionals. Conjectures of Financial Duality and Financial Divergence

The main purpose of this research is the estimation and analysis of the level of Financial Literacy of professionals oriented to business management. The sample was composed of young executives starting MBA studies. The level of FL was analyzed in detail through various statistical techniques, under two perspectives. The first perspective referred to the dimensions involved in the definition of FL and the second referred to the demographic characteristics of the population. Theresults show a level of FL that does not reach an acceptable minimum in its global measurement; neither in its different dimensions, but the Information dimension. In general terms, this result is reproduced at the different demographic segments analyzed. In terms of the demographic categories, there were no differences in age or gender. Based on the income level, there were differences in the Knowledge and Information dimensions. Likewise, based on the number of dependents and on profession, there were differences in the Consciousness dimension. The results allow us to make two important conjectures for further research: the Financial Duality and the Financial Divergence conjectures. It is postulated that the Financial Duality conjecture could be explained through Kahneman’s theory of System 1/System 2 and corresponding behavioral biases.