The Measurement and Determination of Loanable-Funds Saving

E. Philip Howrey and

EPH

E. Philip Howrey University of Michigan

Saul H. Hymans

SHH

Saul H. Hymans University of Michigan

Discussants: John B. Shoven,

John B. Shoven Charles R. Schwab Professor of Economics - Stanford University, and NBER

Dr. Martin Feldstein, and

DMF

Dr. Martin Feldstein President and CEO, National Bureau of Economic Research

Michael J Boskin

MJB

Michael J Boskin

WHILE there may be many reasons to be concerned about what determines the flow of saving in the U.S. economy, it is the role of saving as the supply side in the process of capital accumulation that seems to lie at the heart of the renewed interest in saving behavior in recent literature. That same view of saving is the focus of our attention and guides the choices we make in the empirical analysis presented here. Our major objective is to investigate the proposition that saving—in the sense of the flow of resources available for capital formation, or “loanable funds”—is determined in part by the rate of interest.