Shaping Young Entrepreneurship: The Role of Financial Literacy and Digital Attitudes*

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the role of financial literacy and digitalization in shaping entrepreneurial attitudes among young individuals. Using nationally representative data from the 2023 Bank of Italy survey on financial literacy and digital skills for individuals aged 18–34, we estimate logit regression models to assess whether higher financial and digital competences are associated with a greater propensity to engage in entrepreneurship. To address potential selection bias and endogeneity concerns, baseline results are complemented by a propensity score matching approach. The findings reveal a strong and positive association between both financial literacy and digitalization and entrepreneurial attitude, with a wide set of socio-demographic control variables included. These results are also confirmed across multiple robustness checks. This study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship and provides policy-relevant evidence supporting the role of financial and digital education in fostering entrepreneurial potential among younger generations.