Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/71152 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
CFS Working Paper No. 2012/10
Publisher: 
Goethe University Frankfurt, Center for Financial Studies (CFS), Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
We argue that the US personal saving rate's long stability (1960s-1980s), subsequent steady decline (1980s-2007), and recent substantial rise (2008-2011) can be interpreted using a parsimonious buffer stock model of consumption in the presence of labor income uncertainty and credit constraints. Saving in the model is affected by the gap between target and actual wealth, with the target determined by credit conditions and uncertainty. An estimated structural version of the model suggests that increased credit availability accounts for most of the long-term saving decline, while fluctuations in wealth and uncertainty capture the bulk of the business-cycle variation.
Subjects: 
Consumption
Saving
Wealth
Credit
Uncertainty
JEL: 
E21
E32
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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