Description

This paper develops a multivariate analysis in order to study the determinants of the household saving rate. For this purpose, the paper uses two microeconomic databases for 1988 and 1996- 1997. The main results of the paper support the conventional explanations of saving rates: more than 60% of the variation of saving rates explained by the estimated model is related to age (consistently with the Life Cycle Hypothesis) and temporary income (consistently with the Permanent Income Hypothesis). The results also give some support to more recent extensions of the classic theories (for instance, related to the impact of wealth and human capital on saving decisions). Finally, the evidence points out that the effects of some institutions (like credit markets and mandatory saving for retirement) change with different macroeconomic environments.