Digitalization, Literacy, and Gender Differences in Financial Behaviour in Italy

Digitalization is transforming how households’ access, manage, and transact in financial markets. However, the capacity to use digital tools safely and effectively is uneven across populations. This thesis examines how financial and digital financial literacy influence risky asset ownership including cryptocurrency and digital financial engagement in Italy, with particular focus on gender differences. Using the 2023 Bank of Italy Survey on the Financial Literacy of Italian Adults (IACOFI), we estimate Probit models and apply Fairlie decomposition to quantify gender gaps in risk asset ownership and digital financial engagement. For risky asset ownership, results show that financial literacy is strongly associated with the probability of holding risky assets, a one-point increase in financial literacy score raises the likelihood of risky asset ownership by roughly 0.8 percentage points. In contrast digital financial literacy, once financial literacy and socio-demographic controls are included, is negatively associated with risky asset ownership. It indicates that digitally literate individuals may act more cautiously toward high-risk investments. Men respondents, individuals with higher education level and working individuals are significantly more likely to hold risky assets. Analysis of literacy component confirms that financial knowledge has positive effects, whereas digital behavior aligns with caution. For digital financial engagement, digital literacy plays an important role followed by financial literacy and confidence. Men remain more likely to use digital financial services compared to women. Fairlie decomposition reveals that socioeconomic factors and self-assessed confidence explain the largest share of gender gap. Policy implications include financial and digital literacy programs and confidence building strategies like practical trainings specifically for women. Digital security campaigns that balance safety and access to opportunities are important. The thesis contributes to the literature by jointly analyzing financial and digital literacies on multiple dimensions and by quantifying their roles in modern digital finance adoption and risky asset participation in Italy.