Public policies and household saving1994

The declining U.S. national saving rate has prompted economists and policymakers to ask, should the federal government encourage saving, and if so, through which policies? In order to better understand saving programs, this volume provides a systematic and detailed description of saving policies in the G-7 industrialized nations: the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Among the G-7 nations, household saving rates vary dramatically. The United States and United Kingdom show personal saving rates of less than 5 percent of disposable income. The rates in France and Germany are twice as much, and in Japan and Italy personal saving rates are over 15 percent of disposable income. The United States has tried to encourage saving through programs such as...