TY  - JOUR
AU  - King,Mervyn A.
TI  - The Economics of Saving
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 1247
PY  - 1983
Y2  - December 1983
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1247
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1247.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Mervyn A. King
Governor
Bank of England
Threadneedle Street
London EC2R 8AH
 UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: 44-20-7601-4963
Fax: 44-20-7601-4953
E-Mail: mervyn.king@bankofengland.co.uk
AB  - This paper analyses recent contributions to the theory of household saving and examines empirical evidence on the subject. It focuses on (a) the derivation and estimation of first-order conditions for a consumer's optimum lfe-cycle consumption plan, (b) the conditions under which such conditions may be used to derive an aggregate consumption function, (c) the relationship between constraints in labor and cyclical markets and the notion of a "representive consumer" in macroeconomic models, and (d) the extent to which existing empirical evidence lends support to a life-cycle model of consumer behavior. Further empirical tests are proposed.
ER  -