Frugality Are We Fretting Too Much? Household Saving and Assets in the United States

Household savings rates in the United States have recently crept up from all-time lows. Some have suggested that a shift toward frugality will hamper GDP growth-the Keynesian "paradox of thrift." We estimate that households compensate for a fall in their asset income by saving more out of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tanner, Evan
Other Authors: Abdih, Yasser
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C. International Monetary Fund 2009
Series:IMF Working Papers
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: International Monetary Fund - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
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651 4 |a United States 
653 |a Institutional Investors 
653 |a Wealth 
653 |a Income 
653 |a Stocks 
653 |a Pension Funds 
653 |a Disposable income 
653 |a Saving 
653 |a Personal income 
653 |a Financial Instruments 
653 |a Aggregate Factor Income Distribution 
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653 |a Investments: Stocks 
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520 |a Household savings rates in the United States have recently crept up from all-time lows. Some have suggested that a shift toward frugality will hamper GDP growth-the Keynesian "paradox of thrift." We estimate that households compensate for a fall in their asset income by saving more out of their labor income, dollar-for-dollar. In the wake of the crisis, our model predicts that such primary savings will increase, but only temporarily and modestly, as household assets stabilize. As savings flows gradually accumulate, they help rebuild corporate net worth and hence firms' capacity to make capital investments. A timely return to pre-crisis levels of capital investment would require that U.S. households save substantially more than the model predicts, starting now. Hence, we should fret that our savings rates may be too low