在金融發展與貧富不均的關係中，金融素養的影響至關重要，其代表弱勢者是否具備金融相關知識、和能否做出正確決策的能力。隨著金融體系逐漸成熟，金融商品與服務推陳出新，但若民眾不能提高金融知識水準，也就沒辦法獲取金融發展所帶來的效益。本文資料橫跨1997-2008年間，採用46個已開發、開發中國家，利用混合最小平方法、追蹤資料分析法，探討金融素養、金融發展與貧富差距的相互作用。同時，透過四種不同的面向，來衡量金融發展的規模、可及性、效率、穩定性對貧富不均的影響，使結果更加可信。

實證結果指出，金融的發展使得貧富不均的情況更為嚴重，但金融素養的提升能帶來間接效果，改善金融發展對貧富不均的影響。亦即，弱勢者擁有風險控管、利率計算等金融知識後，降低了金融市場資訊不對稱、盲目投資、金融詐騙的機會，增加其使用金融商品與服務的意願。在具備基本的概念下，弱勢者在面對各種金融情境時，能有效地做出正確的金融決策，來提升自身與整體社會的利益，使得貧富差距惡化的程度下降。

When discussing the relationship between financial development and income inequality, the importance of financial literacy cannot be overemphasized. It is an indicator measuring the consumers’ financial knowledge and ability to make appropriate financial decisions. As financial market becomes more complicated, the poor tend not to be able to derive benefits from investment due to lack of financial literacy. As a result, financial development worsens inequality.

In this study, we investigate the interaction between financial literacy, income inequality, and several dimensions of financial development by using panel data from 46 developed and developing countries over the year 1997-2008. Both pooled OLS model and fixed effect model are considered. Empirical results indicate that people with a higher level of financial literacy can better overcome asymmetric information and thus benefit from financial development. That is, promoting financial education and improving financial literacy mitigate the negative effect of financial development on inequality.

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