Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/92646 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
ISER Discussion Paper No. 859
Publisher: 
Osaka University, Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), Osaka
Abstract: 
In this paper, I conduct an international comparison of the financial health of households using data on household wealth and indebtedness for the Group of Seven (G7) countries and show that, even though household borrowings in Japan were the highest among the G7 countries, at least until 2000, household assets were also high in Japan, as a result of which household net worth and financial health in Japan were among the highest in the G7 countries. Turning to long-term trends in Japan over time, I find that Japan has shown a sharp increase over time in household borrowing, at least until 2000, and a sharp increase over time in both household assets and household net worth, at least until 1990. It is not clear whether the greater financial health of Japanese households is due more to culture or to government policies, institutions, and other non-cultural factors, but it appears that long-term trends over time in household assets, liabilities, and net worth in Japan can be explained much better by non-cultural factors than by culture.
Subjects: 
financial health
households
balance sheets
liabilities
consumer credit
consumer loans
consumer finance
personal finance
indebtedness
housing loans
mortgages
borrowing
assets
financial assets
housing assets
net worth
net wealth
saving
frugality
culture
religion
tradition
traditional values
Japan
United States
Group of Seven (G7)
Anglo-American credit model
Confucianism
Christianity
JEL: 
D12
D14
D91
E21
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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