Public Policies and Household Saving

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 IRAs and 401(k) plans, while the Japanese government has recently curtailed saving incentives. The seven articles in this volume collect and analyze extensive data on government policies affecting saving in each of the G-7 countries. Each chapter focuses on one country and addresses a core set of topics: types of accumulated household saving and debt; tax policies toward capital income; saving in the form of public and private pensions, including Social Security and similar programs; saving programs that receive special tax treatment; and saving through insurance. This detailed summary of the saving incentives of the G-7 nations will be an invaluable reference for policymakers and academics interested in personal saving behavior.