What is National Saving?: Alternative Measures in Historical and International Context

58 Pages Posted: 14 Aug 2007 Last revised: 20 Aug 2022

See all articles by David F. Bradford

David F. Bradford

Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School; NBER; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Date Written: April 1990

Abstract

Most discussion of national saving behavior is based on national income account data. This paper lays out some of the main alternative conceptions of saving and to present data comparing recent U.S. saving behavior with its own past and with that of other nations. I argue, in particular, that more attention should be paid to measures of national wealth at asset market values. The main empirical contribution is to pull together data from the national balance sheets on wealth at market value compiled for the United States by the Flow of Funds Division of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1989) and by various agencies sources in three other countries for which market value figures could be found: Japan, and Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Suggested Citation

Bradford, David F., What is National Saving?: Alternative Measures in Historical and International Context (April 1990). NBER Working Paper No. w3341, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=468845

David F. Bradford (Contact Author)

Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School ( email )

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CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

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