Empirical Determinants of Household Saving: Evidence From OECD Countries

December 1, 1997

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper analyzes the empirical determinants of household saving using data from 21 OECD countries for 1975-95. A particular focus is the influence of the tax and social security systems on household saving. The paper therefore extends the usual set of explanatory variables used to explain household saving behavior to include variables that capture the structure of the tax system and the financing and generosity of the social security and welfare system. These variables are found to have an important impact on household saving. Accordingly, by changing the design of these systems, governments may be able to influence saving.

Subject: Financial services, Income, Income and capital gains taxes, Income tax systems, National accounts, Real interest rates, Social security contributions, Taxes

Keywords: Australia and New Zealand, government saving, growth variable, high-saving age groups, high-saving country, household saving, Income, Income and capital gains taxes, Income tax systems, Real interest rates, saving decision change, saving rate, Social security contributions, Social Security System, Tax Structure, WP

Pages:
26
Volume:
1997
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451859157.001
Issue:
181
Series:
Working Paper No. 1997/181
Stock No:
WPIEA1811997
ISBN:
9781451859157
ISSN:
1018-5941

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