Saving rates display considerable variation across countries and over time. This paper investigates empirically the policy and non-policy factors behind these saving disparities using a large, cross-country, time-series data set and following an encompassing approach including a number of...

This article reviews the current state of knowledge on the determinants of saving rates, presenting the main findings and contributions of the recently completed World Bank research project, "Saving Across the World." The article discusses the basic design of the research project and its core...

In principle, there is little reason people, and countries facing different shocks, and income streams should strive for optimal saving rates. But in practice, the inter-temporal choices that underlie saving, are subject to externalities, market failures, and policy distortions, that can cause...

The authors investigate the policy and non-policy factors behind saving disparities, using a large panel data set and an encompassing approach including several relevant determinants of private saving. They extend the literature in several dimensions, by: 1) Using the largest data set on...

March 2000 - Saving rates vary considerably across countries and over time. Policies that spur development are an indirect but effective way to raise private saving rates - which rise with the level and growth rate of real per capita income. Loayza, Schmidt-Hebbel, and Servén investigate the...