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Wednesday February 10, 2010

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Saving

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioNational Retirement Savings Systems in Australia, Chile, New Zealand and the United Kingdom: Lessons for the United States

David C. John and Ruth Levine, January 13, 2010, Retirement Security Project

Financial security in retirement is an important goal for working families in the United States and worldwide. David John and Ruth Levine examine retirement savings plans in four countries with unique pension systems - Australia, Chile, New Zealand and the United Kingdom - to draw lessons for U.S. policymakers in their effort to build a more sustainable pension system. Read More

Retirement, Saving

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioAutomatic Annuitization: New Behavioral Strategies for Expanding Lifetime Income

J. Mark Iwry and John A. Turner, January 05, 2010, Retirement Security Project

Mark Iwry and John Turner examine the issue of automatic annuitization, with a focus on the significant financial risks faced by workers contemplating retirement. Inflation, an uncertain rate of return on investments, or the insolvency of a former employer or financial provider - all of these external factors can deplete retirees' assets and income. Read More

Retirement, Saving

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioWhat to Make of Declining Household Debt Burdens

Karen Dynan, December 22, 2009, The Brookings Institution

What to Make of Declining Household Debt BurdensThe Federal Reserve's newest figures for its household debt service ratio, released in December 2009, show that it declined to 12.8 percent in the third quarter of 2009, indicating more households are paying off debts. Karen Dynan examines what this means for the U.S. economy, and whether the debt service ratio is a good indicator of future economic health. Read More

Saving, U.S. Economy, Financial Institutions, Federal Reserve System

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioChanging Household Financial Opportunities and Economic Security

Karen Dynan, November 30, 2009, Journal of Economic Perspectives

Household financial opportunities have expanded in important ways over the past several decades. Karen Dynan explores how households have seen increases in their access to credit, their ability to invest in risky assets and their control over their retirement savings. Although these developments have yielded important benefits, the financial crisis illustrates how expanded financial opportunities can also pose dangers for households. Dynan concludes that the recent crisis is likely to result in a permanent reversal of some of this expansion of household financial opportunities. Read More

Saving, U.S. Economy

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioThe U.S. External Deficit: A Soft Landing, Doomed or Delayed?

Barry P. Bosworth and Susan M. Collins, November 23, 2009, Macroeconomic Conference of the Tokyo Club Foundation for Global Studies

Barry Bosworth and Susan M. Collins examine the issue of how the balance of the U.S. trade deficit might evolve in future years as the economy emerges from the recession, both from the domestic perspective of the saving and investment balance, and from the external side in terms of the basic determinants of exports and imports and the role of the real exchange rate. Read More

U.S. Economy, Saving, Trade

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioThe Financial Crisis and Personal Saving

Karen Dynan, October 28, 2009, National Forum to Encourage Lower-Income Household Savings

The current financial crisis has had a great impact on how Americans are saving. In a presentation for the “National Forum to Encourage Lower-Income Household Savings,” Karen Dynan explained that while aggregate personal saving should be markedly higher than before the crisis, it is difficult to predict the level of saving for lower-income households. Read More

U.S. Economy, Saving, U.S. Poverty

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioAustralia and International Pension Reform: Lessons for the United States

Thursday, July 16, 2009
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Washington, DC

Australia and International Pension Reform: Lessons for the United StatesOn July 16, the Retirement Security Project and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center hosted Australian Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry, to discuss the Superannuation Guarantee- Australia's mandatory retirement savings system- and its relevance to American policy-makers. Read More

Australia and New Zealand, Retirement, Saving, Pensions

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioEconomic Fears Lead to a Surge in Household Saving

Gary Burtless, July 14, 2009, National Journal

Economic Fears Lead to a Surge in Household SavingFor many years, economists and other experts have bemoaned American consumers’ unwillingness to save. Now Americans are saving once again, and observers worry that too much saving translates directly into too little consumer demand. Gary Burtless examines whether consumer saving was too low in the past and whether this new saving pattern will continue.
Read More

Saving, Mortgage Market, U.S. Economic Growth, U.S. Economy

BOOK

Save to My PortfolioAutomatic: Changing the Way America Saves

William G. Gale, J. Mark Iwry, David John and Lina Walker, July 01, 2009

Automatic argues for a fresh approach to increase saving, simplify retirement planning, and help manage the risks associated with today's individual account environment. Read More

Retirement, Saving, Aging, Cost of Living

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioPursuing Universal Retirement Security Through Automatic IRAs

J. Mark Iwry and David C. John, July 01, 2009, Retirement Security Project

Mark Iwry and David John spell out an ambitious yet practical set of initiatives to expand retirement saving dramatically. The authors propose making saving automatic—and hence easier, more convenient, and more likely. This strategy has been shown to be remarkably effective at boosting participation in workplace-based 401(k) retirement savings. Read More

Retirement, Saving

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioStop Kicking the Fiscal Can Down the Road

Isabel V. Sawhill, June 11, 2009, McClatchy Tribune

Stop Kicking the Fiscal Can Down the Road While the government has been busy with bailouts, who is going to bail out the U.S. government when our creditors tire of lending to us? And now, thanks to the stimulus, virtually all those over age of 65 are receiving $250 checks, regardless of whether or not they need it. Isabel Sawhill says it’s time for Congress and the administration to get serious about getting our fiscal house in order. Read More

Saving, Fiscal Policy, U.S. Economic Stimulus, Federal Budget, U.S. Economy

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioSaving and Wealth Accumulation in the PSID, 1984-2005

Barry P. Bosworth and Sarah Anders, February 28, 2009, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

This paper by Barry Bosworth and Sarah Anders reports on a project to construct and evaluate a wealth and saving dataset for those households who responded to the supplementary wealth and active saving modules of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) over the period of 1984 to 2005. Read More

Saving, Economic Mobility, U.S. Economy

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioEvaluating Micro-Survey Estimates of Wealth and Saving

Barry P. Bosworth and Rosanna Smart, January 31, 2009, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

Barry Bosworth and Rosanna Smart presents an overview of changes in household wealth accumulation and saving using wealth data from three micro-level surveys. They provide comparisons to the macroeconomic estimates of wealth accumulation and saving, explore problems in constructing household-level valuations of wealth, and assess the value of using household-level datasets to examine wealth accumulation and saving behavior in the United States. Read More

Saving, Economic Mobility, U.S. Economic Growth, U.S. Economy

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioA Vision for the U.S. Pension System at 100

Henry J. Aaron, January 29, 2009, The Fiscal High Road

Despite criticism of the Social Security Act, and it's application to twenty fist century America, Henry Aaron believes that those views are wrong. In broad outline, he says, the system is sound, sensibly designed, and affordable though some changes are now desirable, and that others will, and should, be made as economic and political conditions warrant. But he urges, they should affirm and strengthen the system, not scale it back or repeal it. Read More

Pensions, Saving, Retirement, Social Security

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioWhy Are Saving Rates of Urban Households in China Rising?

Eswar Prasad and Marcos Chamon, December 30, 2008, The Brookings Institution

Why Are Saving Rates of Urban Households in China Rising?In China, the household savings rate rose by 7 percent from 1995 to 2005, reflecting savings of about one quarter of disposable income. Why are Chinese households saving so much across all demographic groups? In a new paper, Eswar Prasad and Marcos Chamon analyze the savings patterns of households in China and discuss the economic drivers. Read More

China's Economy, China, Financial Markets, Economic Development, Global Economics

Featured Experts

William G. Gale

William G. Gale

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies
Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy

Bill Gale, the Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy in the Economic Studies Program at Brookings, is an expert on tax policy, fiscal issues, pensions, and saving behavior. He is also co-director of the Tax Policy Center and director of the Retirement Security Project.
Read More

Henry J. Aaron

Henry J. Aaron

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies
The Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Chair

A noted health care expert, Henry Aaron focuses on the reform of health care financing; public systems such as Medicare and Medicaid; Social Security; and tax and budget policy.
Read More

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