International Comparisons of Household Saving

Governments and corporations may contribute, but around the world household saving is the biggest factor in national saving. To increase understanding of why saving rates differ across countries, this volume provides analyses of patterns of household saving behaviour in Canada, Italy, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Each of the six chapters examines micro data sets of household saving within a particular country and summarizes statistics on patterns of saving by age, income and other demographic factors. The authors provide age-earning profiles and analyses of the accumulation of wealth over the lifetime which allows comparisons between earning, consumption and saving in the six countries. Designed as a companion to Public Policies and Household Saving (1994), which addresses saving policies in the G-7 nations, this volume offers detailed descriptions of saving behaviour in all G-7 nations except France.