TY  - JOUR
AU  - Horioka,Charles Yuji
AU  - Suzuki,Wataru
AU  - Hatta,Tatsuo
TI  - Aging, Saving, and Public Pensions in Japan
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13273
PY  - 2007
Y2  - July 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13273
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13273.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Charles Y. Horioka
Institute of Social and Economic Research
Osaka University
6-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki-shi
Osaka-fu 567-0047
JAPAN
Tel: 81-6-6879-8586
Fax: 81-6-6878-2766
E-Mail: horioka@iser.osaka-u.ac.jp

Wataru Suzuki
Tokyo Gakugei University
4-1-1, Nukuikita-machi
Koganei City
Tokyo 184-8501
JAPAN
E-Mail: w-suzuki@u-gakugei.ac.jp

Tatsuo Hatta
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies
7-22-1, Roppongi, Minato-ku
Tokyo 106-8677
JAPAN
E-Mail: hatta@grips.ac.jp
AB  - We analyze the impact of population aging on Japan's household saving rate and on its public pension system and the impact of that system on Japan's household saving rate and obtain the following results: first, the age structure of Japan's population can explain the level of, and past and future trends in, its household saving rate; second, the rapid aging of Japan's population is causing Japan's household saving rate to decline and this decline can be expected to continue; third, the pay-as-you-go nature of the public pension system, combined with rapid population aging, created considerable intergenerational inequities and increased the saving rates of cohorts born after 1965, which in turn slowed the decline in Japan's household saving rate; and fourth, the 2004 public pension reform alleviated the intergenerational inequities of Japan's public pension system somewhat but will in the long run exacerbate the downward trend in Japan's household saving rate.
ER  -