Life-Cycle Savings and Public Policy (eBook)

Cover 1
Copyright Page 5
Contents 6
Contributors 10
Preface 12
Chapter 1. Saving: A Cross-National Perspective 14
1.1 Introduction 14
1.2 The Value of Cross-National Comparisons 15
1.3 The Importance of Panel Data 17
1.4 A Typical Pitfall in the Analysis of Cross-National Saving Behavior 20
1.5 Goals of this Book 22
1.6 Measuring Life-Cycle Saving 23
1.7 What Does an Extended Life-Cycle Model of Saving Predict? 26
1.8 Some Institutional Differences Across Countries and What They Mean for Saving 29
1.9 What Do We Observe Empirically? 35
1.10 Are these Observations Consistent with our Expectations? 36
References 41
Chapter 2. Household Saving: Concepts and Measurement 46
2.1 Introduction 46
2.2 How Can We Measure Household Saving? 48
2.3 Why Cohort Analysis? 52
2.4 Data Requirements 63
2.5 Aggregation and Estimation 65
2.6 Conclusion 67
References 67
Chapter 3. Household Saving in Germany 70
3.1 Introduction 70
3.2 Data 71
3.3 The Flow of Household Saving 78
3.4 The Stock of Wealth by Age and Birth Cohort 90
3.5 The Institutional Background for Saving in Germany 95
3.6 Links between Saving Patterns and Public Policy 102
3.7 Conclusions 108
References 109
Chapter 4. Household Saving Behavior and Pension Policies in Italy 114
4.1 Introduction 114
4.2 The Data 116
4.3 Cross-Sectional Age Profiles of Income and Saving 118
4.4 Cohort-Adjusted Age Profiles of Income and Saving 138
4.5 Analyzing Saving According to Demographic Groups 148
4.6 The Importance of Pension Arrangements for Saving Choices 152
4.8 Conclusions 156
References 158
Appendix 160
4.7 Measurement Error 154
Chapter 5. Household Savings and Wealth Distribution in Japan 162
5.1 Introduction 162
5.2 The Data 164
5.3 Age Profile of Savings 178
5.4 Saving Rates by Income Class 179
5.5 Cohort Analysis 185
5.6 Age–Wealth Profile 191
5.7 Wealth Distribution 197
5.8 Construction of Social Security Wealth 205
Conclusion 214
References 215
Chapter 6. Savings and Pensions in the Netherlands 218
6.1 Introduction 218
6.2 Data 220
6.3 The Distribution of Income and Wealth 222
6.4 Financial, Real, and Discretionary Saving 236
6.5 Policies Affecting Savings 247
6.6 Summary and Conclusions 253
References 254
Appendix 256
Chapter 7. Pensions and Life-Cycle Savings Profiles in the UK 270
7.1 Introduction 270
7.2 Data 273
7.3 Cross-Sectional Descriptive Evidence, 1978–93 275
7.4 Cohort Effects and Life-Cycle Profiles 293
7.5 Further Issues 301
7.6 Conclusions 316
References 317
Appendix I 320
Appendix II 324
Appendix III 326
Chapter 8. Household Saving Behavior and Pension Policies in the United States 328
8.1 Introduction 328
8.2 Data 331
8.3 Household Savings 333
8.4 Pension Policies 364
8.5 Conclusion 367
References 368
Appendix 370