NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Saving and Growth: A Reinterpretation

Christopher D. Carroll, David N. Weil

NBER Working Paper No. 4470*
Issued in September 1993
NBER Program(s):   EFG

We examine the relationship between income growth and saving using both cross-country and household data. At the aggregate level, we find that growth Granger causes saving, but that saving does not Granger cause growth. Using household data, we find that households with predictably higher income growth save more than households with predictably low growth. We argue that standard Permanent Income models of consumption cannot explain these findings, but that a model of consumption with habit formation may. The positive effect of growth on saving implies that previous estimates of the effect of saving on growth may be overstated.

*Published: Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Vol. 40, June 1994,pp. 133-192

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