The Importance of Financial Literacy: Household’s Income Mobility Measurement and Decomposition Approach

Abstract

This study introduced income mobility analysis using pseudo-longitudinal panel data from Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) to consider the dynamic process of individual's well-being through time. Since there is no comprehensive measurement of income mobility because of its dynamic process, various income mobility indices such as Chi-square, Average Jump Index, Atkinson et al. Mobility Ratio, and Shorrocks' Mobility Index were used. These indices revealed that Filipino households' income movements are more mobile than expected, and their income status improved from 2000 to 2015. As income mobility takes place, income inequality is reduced by 91.80 percent (91.80%). Furthermore, the growth effect is the main factor of income mobility. This indicates that households took the economic opportunities from economic growth to earn more. However, income mobility due to transfer effect (transfer of income from one household to another through lottery winning and borrowing) increased when the economy is not good. The higher income mobility due to growth effect compared to transfer effect, whether the economy is good or bad, means that households learned how to use their income in savings, investments, and entrepreneurship. This is the result of a successful financial literacy program of the government wherein households realized financial stability and security.