Empirical Determinants of Household Saving: Evidence From OECD Countries
IMF Working Papers, December 1, 1997
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Empirical Determinants of Household Saving: Evidence From OECD Countries
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Authors: Tim Callen, Christian Thimann
- Published: December 1, 1997
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451859157.001
Overview
- Paper objective: analyze the empirical determinants of household saving.
- Particular focus: influence of the tax and social security systems on household saving.
- Core extension: include variables that capture the structure of the tax system and the financing and generosity of the social security and welfare system in empirical models of household saving.
- Principal conclusion: variables capturing tax structure and social security/welfare financing and generosity 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.
Data and Scope
- Countries covered: 21 OECD countries.
- Sample period: 1975-95.
Key Findings and Results
- Variables representing the structure of the tax system and the financing and generosity of the social security and welfare system have an important impact on household saving.
- Extending the usual set of explanatory variables for household saving behavior to include tax-structure and social-security/welfare-financing variables yields important explanatory power for saving behavior.
Policy Implications and Recommendations
- By changing the design of tax systems and the financing and generosity of social security and welfare systems, governments may be able to influence household saving.
Content in this bundle
- Empirical Determinats of Household Saving: Evidence from OECD Countries - WP/97/181