Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/25531 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
CFS Working Paper No. 2007/30
Publisher: 
Goethe University Frankfurt, Center for Financial Studies (CFS), Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
We review savings trends in Italy, summarizing available empirical evidence on Italians' motives to save, relying on macroeconomic indicators as well as on data drawn from the Bank of Italy's Survey of Household Income and Wealth from 1984 to 2004. The macroeconomic data indicate that households' saving has dropped significantly, although Italy continues to rank above most other countries in terms of saving. We then examine with microeconomic data four indicators of household financial conditions: the propensity to save, the proportion of households with negative savings, the proportion of households with debt, and the proportion of households that lack access to formal credit markets. By international comparison, the level of debt of Italian households and default risk are relatively low. But in light of the deep changes undergone by the Italian pension system, the fall in saving is a concern, particularly for individuals who entered the labor market after the 1995 reform and who have experienced the largest decline in pension wealth.
Subjects: 
Saving
Household Debt
JEL: 
D91
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
289.73 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.